Bow Lake is a small

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in western

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located on the

Bow River The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...

, in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

, at an altitude of 1920 m. The lake lies south of the Bow Summit, east of the

Waputik Range The Waputik Range lies west of the upper Bow Valley, east of Bath Creek, and south of Balfour Creek in the Canadian Rockies. "Waputik" means "white goat" in Stoney. The range was named in 1884 by George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey ...

(views including

Wapta Icefield The Wapta Icefield is a series of glaciers located on the Continental Divide of the Americas, Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, in Yoho National Park in the Can ...

, Bow Glacier, Bow Peak, Mount Thompson, Crowfoot Glacier and Crowfoot Mountain) and west of the Dolomite Pass, Dolomite Peak and Cirque Peak. Bow Lake is one of the lakes that line the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through Banff Nat ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

and

Jasper National Park Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...

, other such lakes being Hector Lake, Lake Louise,

Peyto Lake Peyto Lake ( ) is a glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The lake is near the Icefields Parkway. It was named for Bill Peyto, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area. The lake is formed in a valley of the W ...

, ''Mistaya Lake'', ''Waterfowl Lakes'', ''Chephren Lake'' and ''Sunwapta Lake''. Historical Simpson's Num-Ti-Jah Lodge is located on the shores of Bow Lake at the foot of

Mount Jimmy Simpson __NOTOC__ Mount Jimmy Simpson is a summit located northwest of Bow Lake in Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Thompson, to the southwest. Mount Jimmy Simpson is a member of the ...

.Tim Whyte Bow Lake is the closest lake to the headwaters of Bow River, and has a total area of 3.21 km². Water in the lake is

meltwater Meltwater (or melt water) is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glaciers, glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelf, ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found during early spring (season), spring when snow packs a ...

of the Bow Glacier and its turquoise colouring is due to

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

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References

Banff National Park Bow River Lakes of Alberta Mountain lakes Glacial lakes of Canada {{AlbertaRockies-geo-stub

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References