Arrive before 10am or after 3pm, or plan to circle for parking. This is a small lot for how photographed the view is, and it's routinely full in the middle of the day through summer. There's no shuttle or overflow lot here like at Lake Louise — if it's full when you arrive, the honest options are to park down the highway and walk in, wait, or come back later.
The highest point on the highway
Bow Summit is where the road tops out, and the air genuinely feels different here — thinner, colder, and often windier than Lake Louise, still visible below you to the south, with the treeline dropping away into subalpine scrub. A layer that felt unnecessary at the last stop is usually worth having on here, even in the middle of summer; the temperature difference is bigger than the short drive suggests.
Two ways to see Peyto Lake, and only one is quick
Most people do the Peyto Lake Viewpoint: a short, paved path from the parking lot, about 1.3 km round trip and 15–20 minutes, wheelchair-accessible with dedicated parking in the upper lot, though the grade back up is real work regardless. The Bow Summit Lookout is a different trip — it continues past that main viewpoint onto an old fire road, 6.6 km round trip with about 245 m of gain, 2–3 hours depending on pace. It trades the crowd at the main platform for a wider, higher angle on the lake and valley, but it's a real hike, not an add-on, and everything you need for it has to come with you: the parking lot has the only washroom on this stop, and there's no water or food anywhere past it.
Why the water looks unreal
Peyto Lake's wolf-head silhouette and improbably saturated blue come from the same glacial-flour effect as Lake Louise, fed by Peyto Glacier at the far end of the valley — most intense in early-to-mid summer when meltwater volume peaks, and noticeably duller by early fall.