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Hike to Bow Glacier Falls
Experienced hikers will tell you that they like to break longer trips down into sections. Bow Glacier Falls isn’t particularly long (coming in at about 9 km round trip), but the terrain is so varied that it feels like crossing different worlds.
Think a shoreline trail next to an impossibly blue lake, a wooden staircase into the forest, a boulder field left by glaciers, and the glacial falls themselves. We love this hike because it just keeps delivering –the return trip feels like a completely different journey when you look over Bow Lake from above.
Good To Know
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Duration
- 3-6 hrs
- When
- Jun - Oct
Location
- Distance from Banff:
- 100km
- Distance from Lake Louise:
- 38km
When to go
Operating Dates
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Local Tips
Don’t forget to look up – various spots along the trail will give you a view up to Bow Glacier and the headwaters of the Bow River.
You can get as close as you like to the base of the falls(as long as you’re prepared to get a little wet). To get back to the trail, look out for the carefully-stacked piles of rocks we call cairns.
Bow Lake is a high-elevation mountain lake, so you can expect the temperatures here to be significantly cooler than in the valley.