Bow Lake

Bow Lake is one of the beautiful sights of the Canadian Banff National Park. Located in the Rocky Mountains, the park offers great views of unique natural hills, lakes, and a variety of plants and animals. It is located in South Western Alberta, on the border with British Columbia. From here, Calgary is about 130 km away. The inspiring rock formations and pristine and natural diversity of Banff National Park are included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Nearly 4 million tourists pass through the beautiful landscapes of the park each year. Many of them come here because of emerald waters of Bow Lake. Along with Lake Morane, Bow has a glacial origin. It is located south of the Bow Summit, east of Waputik Range, including the Bow Glacier and Bow Peak, Mount Thompson, Crowfoot Glacier, and west of the Dolomite pass and the same-titled peak.

Bow Lake covers an area of 3.21 square kilometers and is one of the many lakes included in the area known as Ice Fields Parkway, located within Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. Among the beautiful and popular lakes here, besides Bow are Hector Lake, Lake Louise, Peyto Lake, Mistaya, Waterfowl Lakes, Lake Chephren and Sunwapta.

Bow Lake itself is nearest to the reservoir of the river Bow. It can be easily reached by Highway 93, as it is about 30 minutes’ walk from the turnoff to Louise Lake. Overall the aquatic areas in park Banff are very different, even down to the color of the water. Some of them are green, some blue, and sometimes even brown hues can be found, particularly after big rains. Bow is one of the largest here, and is also a favorite among visitors due to its clear blue waters.

The tourist route around Bow is about 6 km and can be covered in about 4 hours. While following this path, visitors find in sequence the lake, rocky gorge, alpine meadows and finally, the glacier and waterfalls that are a source of the river Bow’s feed-through. It is located near the Great Continental Divide, the border between Alberta and British Columbia.

Among all the lakes in Banff national park, Bow Lake is probably the least crowded, making it ideal for picnics and walks in the clean and beautiful scenery. Fishing is well developed on the lake, the most frequent catches being trout. From April to November here also is the season for water sports.