Bow Lake
A Turquoise Lake Below The Bow Glacier And Crowfoot Mountain, Fed By The Wapta Icefield, With A Lodge (Num Ti Jah) On Its Shore, A Trail To Bow Glacier Falls And A Classic Reflection View. One Of The Loveliest Lakes On The Icefields Parkway, Usually Frozen Into Early Summer · Lake Louise, Alberta
Bow Lake is a long turquoise lake at the head of the Bow River beside the Icefields Parkway, about 35 km north of Lake Louise in Banff National Park (confirm). It lies at roughly 1,920 m below Crowfoot Mountain and the Bow Glacier, an outlet of the Wapta Icefield, and its far shore reflects the peaks on still days. On the near shore sits the red-roofed Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, founded by the guide and outfitter Jimmy Simpson, whose name for the pine marten the lodge carries (confirm). A trail runs along the north shore to Bow Glacier Falls, a hike of roughly 9 km return. The lake is usually frozen into June, and the outlet then becomes the start of the Bow River that flows through Banff and Calgary. It is the easiest of the Parkway lakes to combine with Peyto Lake, a few kilometres north. No separate fee applies beyond the park pass (confirm), and the lodge terrace suits a coffee stop. Allow thirty minutes for a viewpoint stop or four hours for the falls.
Bow Lake, a glacier-fed lake beside the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) about 35 km north of Lake Louise in Banff National Park; coordinates approximate, Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
The lake shore and the trailhead have no gate and are reachable at any hour in summer, when the Icefields Parkway is clear. The lodge keeps seasonal hours for its rooms, restaurant and cafe, commonly from about May to October, with a winter schedule that may be shorter (confirm). Daylight lasts past 10 pm in June and fades by about 4:30 pm in December. The lake usually thaws between mid June and early July, so earlier visits show an ice surface. The Parkway can close during storms or avalanche control, so check the road report on the morning you leave Lake Louise.