Things to do at Bow Lake

Bow Lake sits right beside the Icefields Parkway, about 40 km north of Lake Louise (roughly 40 minutes from Banff via Lake Louise), so no detour or shuttle is needed to see it. Pull into the roadside parking area below Crowfoot Mountain and Bow Glacier, and walk the flat, easy shoreline trail, about 2 km return, 30 to 45 minutes, along gravel and packed earth.

The lake stays partly frozen into June, with ice breaking up unevenly along the shore before the meltwater turns it the milky turquoise typical of glacier-fed lakes. Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, a red-roofed timber building dating to the 1920s, marks the north end of the lake and is worth a stop for its historic look even if you are not staying overnight.

Bow Summit and Peyto Lake lie further up the same road but are a separate stop, not an extension of this one, and are not covered here.