Bow Glacier Falls

Elevation: 2100 m
Elevation Gain: 155 m
Bow Glacier Falls is an impressive cascade that plummets 154 meters (505 feet) down the headwall beneath the Bow Glacier. Below the falls, the nascent Bow River soon reaches Bow Lake and, from there, begins its long journey to Hudson Bay. The name “Bow” refers to the fact that local First Nations fashioned bows from the reeds that grow on the river’s banks and loosely correlates with the Siksiká name: Makhabn (“river where the bow reeds grow”).
My Ascents:
July 31 2021
Trailhead: Bow Lake
GPS Track: Bow Glacier Falls

Our 3-year-old daughter Penny is many things. She is “Bear.” 🐻 She is “Piney Boosedog.” Sometimes, she is a unicorn that answers to “Rainbow Sparkle.” 🦄 She is adorable. She is stubborn. Perhaps, most of all, she is still our baby. The problem with the latter is that she knows it. While her 5-year-old sister Mera gallops up steep mountainsides, Penny nonchalantly looks at us with her big blue eyes and states “I tired” (mere meters from the trailhead). Whether it’s the cuteness or the stubbornness, she often gets her way and ends up getting carried instead of hiking. Acutely aware of this, we set out on our latest multi-day hike/camp-a-thon wondering how many kilometers our little “Bear” would hike and how sore our backs would be by the end from carrying her…

After a smoky start to our day in the Lake Louise campground, we drove 30 minutes to beautiful Bow Lake to tackle our first hiking/3-year-old-carrying objective of the trip: Bow Glacier Falls.

Setting out from the scenic SMOKY shore, Mera and Penny quickly found their way to the lake’s edge to establish its temperature (and generally tempt fate). Who needs dry shoes to start a hike? In the distance, our destination waterfall can be seen below its namesake Glacier.

My girls stop to pose atop one of the well-maintained bridges near the trailhead. As with most things Parks Canada-related, the degree of maintenance that this trail sees declines rapidly with every step that you take away from the parking lot.

Penny makes uncharacteristic haste (chasing her older sister) while Brianne does her best to keep up.

This year’s extremely dry conditions have had a few consequences in Banff National Park: noxious wildfire smoke, very high lake levels and (more pleasantly) an impressive preponderance of vibrant fireweed.

Penny and Mera were particularly taken with the latter (fireweed) and didn’t seem to notice the former (smoke) which all-but obscured the view of Bow Peak from Bow Lake.

You know that air-quality is poor when the nearby peaks’ reflections are more clear than the actual peaks themselves! From left to right: Crowfoot Mountain, Mount Olive, St. Nicholas Peak, the Onion, Portal Peak and Mount Thompson.

LEFT and RIGHT: Apocalyptic (but nevertheless pretty) views from beautiful Bow Lake.

LEFT: After making our way around the shore, high water levels forced us off of the gravel flats upstream and onto the more rooty forest bypass.
RIGHT: After bypassing the highest channels, we were able to get back onto the, more scenic, gravel flats. Here, Mera helped us to keep Penny motivated. So far so good – all the way around Bow Lake and no characteristic “I tired” (ie: carry me!) from Penny! 🤯

Penny enjoys a comfy “seat” and a pepperoni snack during a quick break at the end of the gravel flats. Looks like Crux might be keen to share with her…

LEFT: Upstream of the gravel flats, the nascent Bow River becomes a fierce canyon (which can be bypassed via these stairs). Sadly, the stairs have fallen into disrepair (despite the trail’s popularity). Sigh. It would certainly be nice to see some of our annual Parks fees reinvested here… 🙄
RIGHT: Penny ascends the crux stairs with a little help from her mom.

After bypassing the canyon, we reached the panoramic moraine-scape below Bow Glacier Falls (click to see larger). It’s hard to imagine but, just over a century ago, this was all glacier. See the rockpile at bottom right? It’s the Bow Glacier’s former terminal moraine (where the glacier’s toe pushed rocks up as it advanced down the valley). In fact, in the late 19th century, there wasn’t even a Bow Glacier Falls as the entire headwall was buried deep below glacial ice!

LEFT: Another break for our littles atop the prolific glacial hardpack.
RIGHT: Penny continues up the rubble-scape towards the falls (still on her own 2 feet!).

The earliest section of the Bow River carves its way through the moonscape below the, once ice-covered, headwall and its falls. Click to see larger.

LEFT: Interpretive waterfall dance courtesy Mera.
RIGHT: The falls are definitely more impressive from here than they were from across Bow Lake! More impressive still, the random side-falls that are seeping right through the headwall to the right. Makes one wonder how sturdy this whole cliff is…

LEFT: Warm sunlight, smoke and mist swirl above from the base of the towering 505-foot-tall falls.
RIGHT: Yours truly getting wet. ☂️

LEFT: We came, we saw, we took a family photo.
RIGHT: After exploring the falls and enjoying a snack, we started back downstream (still all on our own 2 feet! 🥳).

LEFT: Rock-hopping is a specialty of Mera’s – one that served her well on this hike!
RIGHT: Penny and Mom carefully make their way down the dusty stairs of disrepair.

As the Bow River ran into Bow Lake, we all kept an eye out for Num Ti Jah Lodge’s red roof (which makes the trailhead apparent from kilometers away). With Penny still going strong, we wondered if we’d hear the tell-tale “I tired” somewhere along the 2-km-long lakeshore.

Back at the lake, Crux insisted on a drink and a swim (so much so that he nearly pulled me in)!

The red roof approaches! And, better still, look who’s still hiking! Atta’ Bear! 🐻 While Bow Glacier Falls is listed as being 9.2-km-return, our extra kid-related wandering and less-than-stellar parking spot turned this into an 11-km day. Looks like this Bear/Boosedog/Unicorn goes to 11!

Having made their hiking Dad proud, Mera and Penny got their just desserts (ice cream before dinner!) back at the campground. And, for once, they both earned it! 🍦 🐻 🦄

Good hiking Girls!