Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint

Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint is a large roadside pullout on the Icefields Parkway, about 36 km north of Lake Louise. It looks up to Crowfoot Glacier on Crowfoot Mountain above Bow Lake. This is a quick stop with no trail hike required, and the best reason to pull over is to see the glacier itself. Bow Lake, less than a kilometre north, offers a broader lakeshore visit if you have more time.

When the sky is clear, frame the glacier with the forest and a strip of water below it; that gives the hanging ice some scale. Cloud or snow can hide the view.

The glacier was named for three ice tongues that once spread across the mountain like a crow's foot. Its lowest toe had melted away by the 1940s, and only part of that old outline remains. The change is easy to understand from the pullout: the ice now hangs high on the rugged slope, above the forested valley. A 1978 photograph shows the glacier spread farther down the slope.

Crowfoot's meltwater feeds Bow Lake below. The Bow River begins at the lake and flows south through Calgary on its way to Hudson Bay. From the pullout, you can trace the landscape from the glacier above to the headwater lake beneath it.

The viewpoint is reached directly from Highway 93, about 36 km north of Lake Louise. Parking can feel tight when the pullout is busy, so make this a short stop rather than counting on a long stay. The Icefields Parkway is remote, with limited services and no cell coverage; carry what you need and download directions before setting out. A Parks Canada pass is required for the Parkway.