Walking in the Rockies - Towards Helen Lake

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August 11th 2017

Published: August 27th 2017

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Bow Lake under Crowchild Glacier

Emerald water in a blue-grey setting

The warm temperatures of this summer soaked into us as we walked up the sun-dappled trail. Tree roots made a crazy staircase through the forest undergrowth of red, yellow and purple wild flowers. Water is abundant enough that we crossed six rivulets, with rough stepping stones thoughtfully placed by others. Our already slow group divided into "bit faster" and "bit slower", and since the scenes were beautiful, I stayed with the latter.

As we moved into a more meandering and undulating section, we could see over the dark green tree canopy to the deep turquoise of Bow Lake, overseen by the hanging grey ice of Crowfoot Glacier. Just at the path grew steeper and stonier, our backward glances rewarded us with the shining ribbon of the Bow River cutting through the faraway valley.

Turning my attention to footwork, joy came from the clear air as we trekked around curves that always seemed to lead to the ridge - but not quite. Finally, we tipped over from the lush valley to the sparse valley. A wall of sunburnt mountains confronted us across from a wide expanse of dense forest below. Since it was obvious we would not be able to

Crowfoot Glacier

Majestic overhang near Bow Lake

make either the creek nor Helen lake, we walked comfortably along the narrow, dusty trail until the sun-drenched meadow faded into more trees and shade for lunch.

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