Sight · Icefields Parkway (Highway 93)
Turquoise water and mountain reflections reward a short shore walk.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Icefields Parkway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Icefields Parkway (Highway 93). As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Icefields Parkway audio tourRecorded for this place
Upper Waterfowl Lake: The Short Shore Walk“You're approaching the Waterfowl Lakes campground access, where a short walk leads to Upper Waterfowl Lake's turquoise shore.”
Plays as you drive up to Upper Waterfowl Lake in the Parkwolf Icefields Parkway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Upper Waterfowl Lake is the southern of the two glacier-fed Waterfowl lakes beside the Icefields Parkway, framed by evergreen forest and a rugged mountain skyline. Its blue-green water makes a rewarding short scenery stop on the drive between Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefield. It is distinct from Lower Waterfowl Lake to the north.
A short, easy out-and-back from Waterfowl Lakes Campground reaches the upper lake’s south shore, with Mount Chephren rising above the water. Route listings differ slightly, at roughly 1.5–1.8 km round trip. Follow the campground trail signs instead of assuming a roadside pullout leads to the shore. For a photo, keep some near-shore gravel and water in the foreground with the peaks beyond.
Parks Canada includes Waterfowl Lakes in a water recreation zone where paddling is allowed under park watercraft rules; check the current self-certification and clean, drain, dry requirements before launching. Waterfowl Lakes Campground sits between the upper and lower lakes, but it is a separate stop, so plan for its services separately from the shoreline.
Wildlife
12 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
127 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
16 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
100 sightingsElkMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
34 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
53 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Icefields Parkway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyUpper Waterfowl Lake Trail1.7 km · 45 min · 1 km awayA quick bridge crossing opens onto turquoise Upper Waterfowl Lake.
ModerateCirque Lake Trail9.2 km · 3 hr · 1.6 km awayBeyond the forest, a boulder shore opens to glacier views.
ModerateChephren Lake Trail8.2 km · 2.8 hr · 1.6 km awayA rooty forest out-and-back to a turquoise lake beneath towering peaks.
Campground · 1.4 km awayWaterfowl Lakes CampgroundCamp between glacier-fed lakes, and plan to go offline.
Scenic pullout · 2.3 km awayLower Waterfowl Lake ViewpointA quick pull-off for turquoise water and Mount Chephren.
Sight · 3.1 km awayCirque LakeBlue water under a glacier and cirque walls, worth the hike.Sight · 3.3 km awayChephren LakeA rooty forest hike ends at a glacial lake beneath big peaks.
Campground · 3.9 km awaySilverhorn Creek CampgroundA simple night between big stops, with mountain views and creekside sites.Parkwolf’s Icefields Parkway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
