Bow hut is operated by the Alpine Club of Canada (ACCC) and is located on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park. The trail starts at Bow Lake and Num-Ti-Jah Lodge and this is where you leave your car. I went with two friends Danielle and Andrea in the summer of 2018. I was very hungover this day and last-minute snacks can be purchased from the lodge at the start of your adventure.
The trail heads to the right of Bow Lake and hugs the shoreline and towards Bow Glacier Falls. After leaving the lake there will be stairs leading up to Bow Glacier Falls and you will need to turn left and climb over a boulder that has made a bridge over the canyon.
Once you have climbed over the boulder you will be on the other side of the river/canyon. Stay on the left-hand side of the river. Continue to hike through mossy fields and them onto a field of rubble that gives you mars like feeling. There were lots of marmots in this area and I had to have a little lie down on the moss to help with my hangover.
Continue through the boulder field and look for cairns so you don’t lose the path. Bow hut should be coming into view now up on top of the mountain to the right. The trail gets steep and we had to cross a waterfall to get across to the hut.
Bow Hut is one of the largest in the ACCC network and is often used by mountaineering groups for courses. You will need to book in to stay there and you cannot just turn up at the hut and sleep there. We had lots of time in the hut as the hike in wasn’t very long so many glasses of wine and my Canadian friends taught me crib (still don’t know how to play it).
The day that we hiked in it was very smokey in the valley so the views were blocked most of the time however once we woke up the smoke had cleared, thank god. On our departure day, we decided to check out the local glacier that is nearby as we had heard that there were caves present. I would not recommend going inside of the glacier caves and to be VERY careful anytime you are near a glacier. We then continued hiking up to the summit of the Onion which is the closest peak. It took us an hour-ish and it is so worth it. The views of Bow Lake and the lake on top of Bow Glacier Falls is incredible.
