Bow Lake sits at an elevation of 1920 metres and spends most of the year locked away in ice. The lake acts as the source of the Bow River that flows through Banff, Canmore, and Calgary. When we stop at Bow Lake you will learn the storey of Jimmy Simpson who was one of the most important guides, outfitter, lodge operator, hunter, naturalist and artist in the Canadian Rockies. This storey is about a legendary man who ascended some of the highest peaks in the range and guided leading scientists, mountaineers, big-game hunters and world-famous artists through some of the most unimaginable scenery on earth to entertain thousands of visitors at his famous lodge at Bow Lake.

Before named Peyto the lake was known as Doghead Lake—exactly what it resembles from any high point near its south end looking north. It was renamed for guide/outfitter, Bill Peyto, who would later become one of Canada’s first Banff National Park warden. The panoramic lookout is insanely beautiful.

Historically, North Saskatchewan River Valley, White Goat Wilderness Area and Kootenay Plains Corridor commemorate the diversity of human experience and the legacy of thousands of years of human history and mark the tangible cultural remains of the lives and stories of the people who used this part of Canadian Rockies as an important trade and travel corridor linking the Alberta Plains to the interior of British Columbia. Among the scenic features are the gnarled and windblown limber pines growing on exposed rocky ridges. There is a Limber Pine growing in this. It is estimated to be about 2500-3000 years, making it the oldest living Limber Pine in the world and the oldest tree in Canada and you will have a chance to see this tree during this tour.