Sat, Jul 28 2012 - Bow Glacier Falls (Slowpokes & Photographers) - Beginners' Welcome ! (View Original Event Details)
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Bow Glacier Falls – a photographer’s delight !!!!
A gorgeous weather day for this hike, not too hot, not too cold ! We got under way around 10:15. I expected a lot of people on the trail today as it being the weekend, but was pleasantly surprised there was not ! Bow Lake was as beautiful as ever with its turquoise/blue colour and our shutterbug members (all of us !) starting clicking away !!! This is my nephew’s first visit to the Canadian Rockies, and this is his first hike ! He loved the water colour !
We chitchatted along the way on the trail on the shoreline of Bow Lake as there are lots of open bushy areas that bears love to hang out in. Luckily we didn’t see any, but they might have seen us !!!! Once we got to the “stairs” to start our ascent from the lake, I brought the group over to the left of the stairs, and if you step down the couple of rocks to the edge of the running water, you can see the canyon and see the water carving it ! Once we took a whole bunch more pics, we started up those stairs. Along the way, we let a group of hikers go ahead of us, and I asked one of them if they were staying at the hut (due to their big backpacks) and he said yes. We were right near the trail where you can branch off and descend about 15 feet, and you are greeted with the view of where the trail actually splits into two – stay to the right and you will continue to the Bow Glacier Falls – take a left, and you must climb up a ten foot tall rock that hangs over the canyon which joins both sides, and this is the trail to Bow Hut which is on the other side of the canyon ! We watched them carefully/slowly climb this rock with their big backpacks on and got some great pics. We also saw a fat marmot ! This was Nick’s second animal sighting as the first one was a chipmunk earlier on the trail !!! We continued up the trail and now we arrived at a ridge, and we can see a wonderful open meadow of rocks, and the falls at a closer distance !
As we hiked thru the meadow of rocks, the wind became cooler as it was coming off the Bow Glacier and we were a lot closer! Once we got to our destination, the falls were immense, big waterflow – the winter melt still going strong ! This was my third time up here, and this by far is the best time of year to go if you enjoy big waterfalls ! Once again, a shutterbug’s delight ! Hilary even broke out her tripod (can’t wait to see your pics !). We had a nice lunch break and started our return. Doug lead the way, and I was sweeping at the back – his internal GPS is a lot better than mine as he found the way that avoided the crossing over ankle deep water - Thanx Doug !! Slight rain ran into us for 2 minutes, and thankfully no thundershower as was forecasted ! Back at the trailhead, Hilary, Doug, and Zabed went on an ice cream search in the Num-ti-jah Lodge and took a stroll through the wonderful giftshop that I recommend they go see (great stuff in there !). Ed, Nick, and I got on the road to home.
Thank you everyone for hanging out with Nick & I on his first ever hike in the mountains ! So nice to hike with fellow shutterbugs !
Sights on the trail: Chipmunk, fat marmot, fellow hikers, few tourists, great Kodak moments, Bow Lake, Bow Glacier Falls, and Bow Glacier – and lots of smiles and great friendship along the way !
Happy Trails:)
Karen D.