Bow
lake Lookout is located in Banff National
Park near Bow Summit approximately
38Km
north of Lake Louise on the
Icefields Parkway. The Bow Lake Lookout
Hike is considered easy and is
approximately
4.5Km
return with a total elevation gain
of
260m.
Park at the
Peyto Lake
Lookout parking lot and follow the
paved trail up towards the
Peyto Lake
Lookout. During the summer months
expect huge crowds of people at the
Peyto Lake
Lookout. From the
Peyto Lake
Lookout follow the short loop trail
to your left. Near the start of the
loop trail you'll see a trail on
your right that leads down to
Peyto Lake.
Pass by this trail and and stay on
the loop
trail near it's back side until you see another trail
leading of to an old fire road. This
fire road leads to Bow Lake
Lookout. Follow the fire road a short
distance until
Peyto Lake comes into
view. At this point you can take a
side trip and scramble
up the mountain behind you for
better views of
Peyto Lake. This peak
is where all the calendar pictures
are taken from. Views of
Peyto Lake
get better the higher up you go.
When you're finished with your photos and
views of
Peyto Lake
head back down to the old fire road
and continue on until you reach it's
end and the old Bow Lake Lookout
site. The look out site is now only
a rocky clearing on the ridge but it
has nice north and south views of
the Icefields Parkway and Bow Lake.
You can keep hiking up a lateral
moraine a short distance for better
views of Bow Lake. Keep your eyes
open for Grizzly Bears below you in the
Meadows next to the
highway. While driving by I have seen several
bears there
over the years. To my
surprise there was no one at this
lookout other
then myself while hundreds of tourists
were located at nearby
Peyto Lake
Lookout. Interesting to
note that a National Parks statistic
states 93% of all tourist do not
venture further then
1km
from their cars. Bow Lake is the
headwaters of the Bow River a world
class fly fishing stream. Bow Lake gets it's
beautiful turquoise green color from
glacial silt created by the Bow
Glacier and the
Wapta Icefield.
Bow Falls Hike,
Helen Lake,
Cirque Peak,
Peyto Lake
Hike,
Chephren
Cirque Lake Hikes,
Mount Hector
Alpine Climb are all
located near here.
You are in
bear country.
