CR2015: Peyto Lake and Bow Summit Lookout

July 23rd was a transit day between our stay at Canadian Artisans and the one-night "base camp," Cathedral Mountain Lodge, preceding our next multi-night destination, Lake O'Hara. Joan and I decided to drive up the Icefields Parkway and walk to Peyto Lake and the Bow Summit Lookout.

As we consumed Val's always-scrumptious breakfast at Canadian Artisans, she said, "You should never present Bob with a challenge." He had straightened my bent hiking pole! It seemed a sturdy repair, so we didn't buy a new set at the Canmore outdoor store, Valhalla Pure. The unbent pole worked fine throughout the trip.

Peyto Lake is a major tourist destination, with separate parking areas for autos and for buses, and deservedly so, for the wonderful colors of the glacial waters that shift with every alteration in the angle or intensity of the sunlight.

We checked out the crowded observation deck, and I took the above photo, but this wasn't our primary goal. There is an interpretive loop that heads beyond the deck, and at one point an old road heads off for the former location of a fire lookout tower. We were pleased that some of the spring flowers were still in bloom here; the microclimates vary so much in the mountains!

The fireweed was in all colors, including this two-tone.

This view looks back (north) along the valley of the Mistaya River. The weather was highly variable, with potential rainclouds coming and going. (The Bow Summit is so named because it's the highest point along the Icefields Parkway.) On this stretch we heard several hermit thrushes singing.

This photo zooms in on the valley, with sections of the parkway and lakes further north revealed.

The middle section of the walk was unremarkable, but then we reached the marmots. These two were play-wrestling.

As long as we didn't make any threatening moves or approaches, they ignored us.

There was an adult or two, but the youngsters were much more photogenic. Later on, there were several birds foraging. Not enough markings to make an identification for this one, but if you click to enlarge, you'll see he's caught something.

This view looks north from our lunch spot. The old fire tower site is the open pad in the far center (click to enlarge), but a footpath led on to this location, where we could see both the valleys, Mistaya and Bow, at the same time.

Unfortunately I decided to eat lunch first and take pictures later. By the time I ate the last cookie there was heavy rain to the south, with a high wind driving light rain horizontally in our direction. No pictures to the south today. In character with this changeable day, once we started our walk back the rain dwindled and then disappeared. However, driving south on the Icefields down to the TransCanada after our hike, the pavement became wetter and wetter. We were fortunate to have been well north of Kicking Horse Pass! The town of Field had been drenched.

We spent a pleasant night at the Cathedral Mountain Lodge, a location that makes it easy to catch the morning bus to Lake O'Hara Lodge. They weren't full that night and upgraded us to a larger cabin.