Icefields Parkway

Saturday, July 4, 2026

At 10:00, after we finished eating breakfast at Hotel Canoe's Sudden Sally restaurant, we loaded our Hyundai Kona and headed for multiple stops for our pre-planned road trip along the Icefields Parkway.

Our first stop was Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint, about an hour away from Banff. We pulled into a fairly full parking lot at 11:00, but managed to find a space. We took a few photos of the spectacular glacier and walked down to the lake. The water was icy cold. We didn't linger very much here and continued toward our next destination.

Our second stop was Bow Lake, only a few minutes away. We had to wait a few minutes behind cars to find a suitable parking spot. We took many photos of the gorgeous Bow Lake.

We did not realize that directly to the right of the Bow Lake parking lot, there was a narrow road down to Bow Lake, where another parking lot with bathrooms and picnic tables was available. We decided to explore this area, as our ChatGPT instructions recommended spending 45 minutes at Bow Lake, and we did not immediately see what to do. 

After some exploration, we decided to eat our snack/early lunch using the picnic tables next to the lake. I got out the freshly brewed coffee, pastries, and cookies, and we enjoyed our delicious lunch, overlooking the beautiful lake.

As we drove to our third stop - Mistaya Canyon - we passed the heavy traffic headed for Peyto Lake. People were parking their cars on the shoulder. We planned to stop there, as our fourth stop, and hoped that the parking and traffic situation would improve (thankfully, it did).

We quickly found a parking spot at Mistaya Canyon and put on our hiking shoes. We started the short, 1-mile round-trip Mistaya Canyon hike after using the bathrooms. The Mistaya Canyon was quite spectacular, and we took hundreds of photos. The rushing water and the narrow canyon were amazing to look at. We didn't see any bears during the hike, but Alex spotted a bear spray plastic safety catch on the ground, and that made us all a bit more apprehensive about bears. However, we did not see or hear any bears during our hike.

Our fourth and final stop was Peyto Lake, and fortunately, the parking situation had improved markedly. We were able to find parking in the main lot.  and walked the steep, uphill trail for 700m to the Peyto Lake viewing area. The turquoise Peyto Lake and the surrounding Canadian Rockies were stunning and not to be missed!

We returned to our Hyundai Kona and decided to eat a small lunch. Alex and I shared the Italian sandwich and a cup of coffee. I was feeling a bit sleepy, and the cup of coffee really helped me. After the quick lunch, we drove for about 45 minutes to the Storm Mountain Lodge, where we had lodging reservations.

Icefields Trip Review

Highlights

• Enjoying the gorgeous view of Peyto Lake and the surrounding mountains
• Hiking Mistaya Canyon 
• Viewing the beautiful Bow Lake and the surrounding Canadian Rockies

Lowlights

• Finding parking was difficult and required patience