Bow Hut Hiking Trip

We headed off on this hike bright and early after having an amazing breakfast at the Elk Horn Dining room along with Dave's Parents (both extremely avid hikers in their 60's) and Dave's younger brother Gerald. Hiking is my time to indulge and break all the healthy eating rules so you can bet my easy access pockets were filled to the brim with 5 cent candies which everyone seemed to be after!

The hike starts out beautifully with you enjoying the beautiful scenery of Bow Lake and the stunning mountains and glaciers in the background. After you pass the lake you gain slight elevation while walking along the river. We stopped for a quick lunch break and rinse off in the river before making the last trek to the hut.

Its a bit of a slog to the top and you think the hut is a lot closer than it is. I was damn determined to make it up before Dave and Gerald and went off patch straight up essentially. Let’s just say I barely made it before them and they were enjoying the easy switchback journey while I was seriously re-thinking my rash decision to make the hike a scramble. oh well all worth it in the end for the beautiful views!

We dropped our backpacks inside the hut and laid claim to sum sleeping pads before grabbing a quick snack and making our way to the Wapta ice fields and a couple other peaks that made for some incredible photos! By the time we were all done it was almost 6pm and we headed straight back to the hut for some delicious dinner!

Dave and I had packed in tandoori chicken along with rice and to top it all off apple crisp for everyone and our bellies were full and satisfied from all of our treks that day. The hut was full of great hikers and we enjoyed the rest of the evening with chitter chatter and star gazing (even the northern lights came out to great us).

Sleep came easy that evening which is great because Dave and I had a very quick hike planned for the next morning. We scrambled out of bed very early Sunday morning in a rush to pack up and we were on the trail heading down the mountain with breakfast in hand (Cliff Bars) by 6:30am. We needed to be back in town for a football game/ tailgate. It was more of a jog down the mountain and my knees were a wreck by the end to be quite honest but we made it to the game in time.

To summarize, it’s a stunning hike and we enjoyed every minute. You can check out a few of our photos below:

one of the peaks above the Bow Hut

near where we stopped for lunch on the way up

Bow Lake and beautiful mountains in the background

The river you hike along for quite sometime

From Left to Right: Gerald, Jess, Dave

Just chilling under a glacier (Jess & Dave)

Bounding down the peak towards Bow Hut for Dinner