Bow Falls and Bow River, Banff, Canada

The Bow River is a 587km (365 mile) river in Alberta, Canada. It starts in the Canadian Rocky Mountains at Bow Glacier. It flows south of Lake Louise through Banff, Canmore, Calgary and Arrowood. It meets Oldman River to form South Saskatchewan River ending in the Hudson Bay. The river is named in reference to the reeds (“slender-leaved plants that grows in water or marshy ground”), that grew along its banks which were used to make bows.

AllTrails shows this as a 5mile trail with 931ft elevation. We did not walk the entire trail. On 9/16/2022, we drove to the wide parking lot of Bow Falls. Parked there then climbed the steps by the fall and walked a small section of the trail from the falls along the river toward Banff Village. The trail is crowded and scenic. The sound of the river is soothing. The banks of the river have been visited by explorers, and celebrities including King George VI and his wife, Theodore Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe during the filming of River of No Return in 1953. Many artists painted the river’s picturesque landscapes. I highly recommend walking this portion of the trail or at a minimum stop to see the falls.

Reference Bow Falls on Alltrails, Bow Falls on TripAdvisor, Bow River on Wikipedia