When Banff Avenue’s hustle and bustle starts getting to you, head toward the river and walk downstream. This is the perfect time to follow the Bow River to Bow Falls. The ideal place to wash away your worries and cool off on a hot summer day, the falls are impressive mostly for the huge amount of water rushing through the 10-metre drop, which is slowly being eroded and widened. Looking up at the falls, the rock on your right is 320 million years old and on the left it's 245 million years old. The Bow River is the longest river in Banff National Park and a significant part of Canadian geography. The flow makes its way from the river’s headwater high on the Icefields Parkway at Bow Lake then winds through Banff, Canmore, Calgary and eventually to the Saint Lawrence River, Ontario and the Atlantic Ocean. Located just above the confluence of the Bow and the Spray River, and at an obvious gap between Tunnel Mountain and Mount Rundle, the falls are too dangerous to run in a boat – although a few extreme kayakers have descended and lived to tell the tale. If you can find a place to park among the tour buses, get out and go for a walk beside the falls. There is less traffic in the winter when some of the falls freeze. This is the trailhead for great cross-country ski trails and some classic Canadian Rockies ice climbs.
