Peyto Lake ( ) is a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

-fed

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

. The lake itself is near the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through ...

. It was named for

Bill Peyto Ebenezer William Peyto ( ; 14 February 1869 – 23 March 1943) was an English-Canadian pioneer, mountain guide, and early park warden of Banff National Park. Life and career Peyto was born in Welling, Kent in 1869 and immigrated to Canada, settl ...

, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area. The lake is formed in a valley of the

Waputik Range The Waputik Range lies west of the upper Bow Valley, east of Bath Creek, and south of Balfour Creek in the Canadian Rockies. "Waputik" means "white goat" in Stoney. The range was named in 1884 by George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey o ...

, between

Caldron Peak Caldron Peak is a mountain peak of the Waputik Range, located in Alberta, Canada. It is prominently visible from the Peyto Lake Overlook in Banff National Park. It was named after Caldron Lake which is from its summit. __NOTOC__ Geology Like o ...

Peyto Peak Peyto Peak is a mountain in the Waputik Range, part of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, Canada. It lies at the north end of the Wapta Icefield, in Banff National Park, about one km (0.6 mi) east of the border with British Columbia and north ...

and

Mount Jimmy Simpson __NOTOC__ Mount Jimmy Simpson is a summit located northwest of Bow Lake in Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Thompson, to the southwest. Mount Jimmy Simpson is a member of the Wa ...

, at an elevation of . During the summer, significant amounts of glacial

rock flour Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspe ...

flow into the lake from a nearby glacier, and these suspended rock particles are what give the lake a unique bright, turquoise colour. Because of its bright colour, photos of the lake often appear in illustrated books, and the area around the lake is a popular sightseeing spot. In 2021,

Parks Canada Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...

completed improvements to the lake viewpoint, trails and parking areas. The lake is best seen from Bow Summit, the highest point on the Icefields Parkway. The lake is fed by Peyto Creek, which drains water from Caldron Lake and

Peyto Glacier __NOTOC__ The Peyto Glacier is situated in the Canadian Rockies in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, approximately northwest of the town of Banff, and can be accessed from the Icefields Parkway. Geography Peyto Glacier is an outflow glac ...

(part of the

Wapta Icefield The Wapta Icefield is located on the Continental Divide in the Waputik Mountains of the Canadian Rockies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The icefield is shared by Banff and Yoho National Parks and numerous outlet glaciers exten ...

). Peyto Lake is the origin of the

Mistaya River The Mistaya River is a short river in western Alberta, Canada. It flows through the Canadian Rockies, and a section of the Icefields Parkway was built along its course. Mistaya River originates in Peyto Lake, a glacial lake of typical blue colo ...

,MISTAYA CANYON and PEYTO LAKE: Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada: ALONG THE ICEFIELD PARKWAY
/ref> which heads northwest from the lake's outflow. 1_peyto_lake_pano_2019

References

External links

* * Banff National Park Lakes of Alberta Glacial lakes of Canada {{AlbertaRockies-geo-stub