Just off the Icefields Parkway, you'll find the stunning, glacier-fed Bow Lake, whose brilliant turquoise waters perfectly mirror the surrounding mountain peaks on a calm day. It's an incredibly accessible stop; you can walk right to the shoreline from the parking area in just a couple of minutes. For a relaxing visit, take the easy, flat trail along the water's edge, or if you're up for a bit more, the hike to Bow Glacier Falls offers even more spectacular views and takes a few hours.

There are a couple places to view Bow Lake: the first, and easiest is immediately off of the Icefields Parkway. This viewpoint allows for a head-on view with not a lot of walking trails around it. In summer, sometimes flowers do pop up along the roadside on the north end of the pull off that make for excellent photo opportunities (we take photos with the flowers, not in the flowers--to keep them beautiful for generations to come!)

You can also continue past this stop and make a left turn (if coming from Lake Louise) into a parking lot. You'll first pass an overflow parking area and can continue to the main lot. You'll see some toilets and next to that will be a path that brings you to an incredible side view of the lake with an entirely different vantage of the mountain. There's also a bridge that's incredibly photo worthy.

You'll need a Parks Canada pass to park here and enter the Icefields Parkway.