Icefields Parkway

Saturday, July 4, 2026

At 10:00, after we finished breakfast at Hotel Canoe's Sudden Sally restaurant, we loaded our Hyundai Kona. We made several stops on our preplanned 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 parking 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 here very long 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 in the main parking lot.

After some exploration, we decided to have an early lunch at the picnic tables by 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 heavy traffic heading for Peyto Lake. People were parking their cars on the shoulder. We planned to stop at Peyto Lake as our fourth stop nd 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 hike in Mistaya Canyon after using the bathrooms. The Mistaya Canyon was quite spectacular, and we took hundreds of photos. The rushing water and narrow canyon were amazing to see. 

We didn't see any bears during the hike, but Alex spotted a bear-spray safety-catch plastic on the ground, which 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.  We 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