Banff CNP: Lake Louise to Bow Summit on the Icefields Parkway

Lake Herbert



Once I entering the Icefields Parkway, it was not long before I made my first stop at Lake Herbert.  My favorite picture of the lake was taken facing south looking back at the mountains surround Lake Louise.  They made a beautiful reflection in the lake.  The lake water was so clear that you can see downed trees lying on the bottom.

 

Mount Hector from Lake Hector Outlook

Lake Hector: left to right Mount Balfour, Mount Olive, and Mount Gordon.  The two mountain on the right side unknown.

Here is better picture of Mt Hector than the one I took from the 3rd floor balcony at Lake Louise Inn.  The sky was just so blue and many of the pictures have wispy clouds giving the picture the perfect touch.  I was so lucky the weather was great while I was traveling.  The next pull off was a view of Hector Lake, the lake was a bit off the road.  There is a trail down to the lake but I wanted to wait before I started doing some hikes.  Looking toward the northeast there is Dolomite Mountain and Watermelon Peak and southwest you can see Mt Balfour.

 

Pulpit Peak and Mount Balfour from Lake Hector Outlook

Dolomite Peak and Watermelon Peak from Lake Hector Outlook

Nosseeum Mountain from Lake Hector Outlook

There are three viewpoints to stop at before reaching Bow Summit which allow you to view the mountains and glaciers surrounding Bow Lake.  The first stop allowed a great view of Crowfoot Glacier.  The lower toe use to descent down to Bow Lake years but broke off years ago.  There was a very lazy raven in the parking lot which must have found good pickings because he just walks around the cars way instead of flying away.  I started to find some flowers blooming along the road side and Indian Paintbrush was the most 

                                                                                      abundant.

Indian Paintbrush



Raven at Crowfoot Glacier Outlook



Crowfoot Glacier above Bow Lake. 

Left to Right: Bow Peak, Bow Pass and CrowBow Peak southwest of Crowfoot Glacier

Mount Andromache, left of center from Bow Lake Outlook

The Bow Lake turnout was only a hop and skip away. Here you can get better views of Bow Lake and the mountains surrounding it.

Bow Lake with Crowfoot Mountain left edge, Mount Thompson, and Mount Jimmy Simpson right edge.

Bow Lake with Crowfoot Glacier.

Bow Glacier viewpoint is the last stop and is also the entrance to Num-Ti-Jan Lodge.  You can see the lodge's red roof in the picture of Bow Glacier.  I did not have time to stop and check it out since I wanted to spend the night in the campground near Jasper.

Portal Peak far left, Bow Glacier, if you look under the glacier you can see Bow Fall, and Mount Thompson right.
The red roof is Num-Ti-Jan Lodge.

The final stop before leaving Bow Valley is the Bow Summit Outlook.  The stop requires a short hike to the viewing platform and can get some great pictures of Peyto Lake.  Due to time restraints I stop here and headed back to the parking lot but the trail leads to Bow Summit Outlook.   While drive out of the parking I saw this Clark's Gray Jay looking for handouts so I stopped the car, open the window stick my camera out and the bird flew over to my car looking to food.  I snapped the picture before the bird figured out that I was not going to feed him/her.

Peyto Lake: Caldron Peak left edge and Mount Patterson along the lake from the platform on Bow Summit Trail.

The other end the Peyto Lake: Peyto Glacier and Peyto Peak.

White Mountain Avens on Bow Summit

The next blog will from Bow Summit to Whistlers Campground south of Jasper.  Where I finely had the chance to see the park's wildlife while driving through this section.



Clark's Nutcracker hoping I would feed him.