bowman lake

Bowman lake was a long drive but would do it again. Beautiful lake. Great place to take pictures. A must see.

First, it is a nice looooonnngggg drive, but Please, don't give up before getting to the lake! It is well worth the drive down the winding, rough, one-lane, dirt road. We are used to dirt road driving, so it was easy for us even in a rental car, but folks who aren't accustomed to back-road adventures may grow weary a few miles in....Keep going! We really didn't have any idea the beauty that awaited us as we parked under the shaded woods and walked the short trail to the lake. I Literally Cried! And this literally actually means literally! How Magnificently Beautiful! I would love the opportunity to return and camp there if we ever get back to Montana. There was an upgraded outhouse there. I would bring my kayak and enough supplies in to stay a few days and really breathe in God's gift. LOVE!---late Sept. 2013

Bowman Lake was definitely a must see on your trip to Glacier National Park. It says it's about 25 miles from West Glacier entrance but in actuality takes you a couple hours to get in there. You will drive on paved and dirt roads going into this beautiful lake. Be sure and stop at the Polebridge Mercantile for their delicious breakfast pastries. It is right before you head on the dirt road that leads you into Bowman Lake you can't miss it. Once you get to the parking lot it's just a short walk to the lake. There is also camping available there and we would love to go back and camp there. The water is crystal clear, calm and just absolutely gorgeous. Definitely bring your canoe or kayak for this awesome lake!

Picture perfect lake six miles from Polebridge Mt. down a narrow, bumpy, dusty road, but so very pretty.

Beautiful spot! I visited this place in the evening right before sunset. The road, as others have pointed out, is dirt road and bumpy. Drive slow and you should be fine. We made it in Nissan Note :) Not many cars on the way to this lake so it gets kinda scary at times when you are passing the forest destroyed in wildfires.. SPOOKY!I would highly recommend you visit this lake, or any other lake in the park, before 10 AM or during sunset. Water in the lake is very calm at these times giving it a mirror finish. Check out the image attached. Keep plenty of time aside for this one, the summer flowers along the road are beautiful and you might have to make several stops!I did not explore rest of the area like campground here so not many updates.

The lake is gorgeous with fantastic views of the surroundnig mountains, but the problem is getting there as the road is a dirt road with many potholes so be careful and best to have a SUV or truck. I made it in a car, but I don't advise it.

While not truly "hidden," this remote little gem of a lake/campground/hike spot is located north of Polebridge up a twisty, dusty switchback of a road. Lake is just as cool as Lake McDonald but far less busy. We saw a ton of deer in the campground. Potable water, and pit toilets were super clear. Be sure to stop in Polebridge for Huckleberry Bear Claws on your way in (yum!).

I will definitely be visiting this beautiful lake again. It's a pain to get to but well worth it. It was pristine. I can't wait to come back and kayak to the end of the lake!

The lake is absolutely beautiful. there's probably only approximately 100 yards of water line that is for public use. Most people put there chairs right up to the water instead of further back so others felt welcome to approach the water. Water sports, like canoe and kayakers, would love this spot. You feel so small compared to the mountains. The lake looked like an undisturbed bath tub, smooth and calm. I was there in July, the bugs were in full force. Parking was created. The reason, beside the usable water front, for the low markings is the drive to access the lake. There is one road, one lane, many sharp curves, lots of dust, lots of branches that hang in the way, and enough pot holes to really test out your suspension. :) I understand that its a national park but some forewarning would have been desirable.....

Me and two friends were on a road trip out west from Pennsylvania. We ended up at Bowman lake for three days. The road coming in was challenging but very drivable. We got there early and found a great spot to set up our camp. Then we looked around the area and out of nowhere pops a National Park Service ranger. He was great , he told us about not leaving any food out and while hiking to make as much noise as possible so that any bears would hear us and avoid being surprised. That first night we went to the bar in Polebridge and got trashed. Man it felt good being bad..however all three of us started arguing on the way back about who was the better friend to Dave , Me? or Scott? Well that turned into a heated discussion about what friendship was and blah blah blah we drank some more when we got back and me and Scott just would not let it stop...we had a fire going and we just went off shouting st each other like school girls arguing over a guy they liked!!! We finally got to drunk to argue and we all crawled into our tent and fell right to sleep. Well the next morning we felt like Sh$t. we crawled out of the tent and we noticed all the other campers looking at us like we were maniacs...and the guy next to our camp said "so you boys had a good night last night huh?" we all apologized. Then we started arguing over who's fault it was for all the arguing we had done the night before. Being very hung over way out in the woods is not fun. We had a brilliant idea lets jump in the lake to clean up. So we brought our bars of soap and jumped in the lake and quickly started soaping up...Well this park ranger must have special powers... came calmly out of the woods and did his best drill instructor routine. JUST WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK YOUR DOING!!? your polluting my lake! We all just froze and slowly got out of the water he said not to wash off anymore of the soap. Then we got the talk about basically being screwups who should have known what was and wasn't allowed in the park. So we all towel dried and the Ranger disappeared into the woods. so we decided that we needed exercise to fight of being hung over and walked up to Numa Lookout making lots of noise and eventually me and Scott started in on each other again..that definitely was all the noise we needed to keep bears away. Numa Lookout is spectacular and a great climb that really works the legs. Then we went back to Polebridge. Fortunately Scott and I were done arguing over the nature of what a friend is. We left Bowman lake and drove to Kalispell to pick up supplies for our next camp site.

Spent a great 3 days camping, hiking and canoeing. Would highly recommend staying. Get there early to get a good site as it will fill up towards the end of the day.Great hike up to the Numa lookout, but take your bear spray. We saw multiple signs of bears in the area, but no direct visual sightings. Plenty of Huckleberry patches to hike through, and they are really good right off the bush ; )One thing, bring some really good mosquito repellant ! Those things were aggressive, if you had missed one spot of exposed skin they would bite you. Also, you can have a fire in the pits at the campsites but wood is sparse, I'd recommend trying to get some in Polebridge to bring with you.Enjoy !!Oh, btw make it a point to get up before the sun comes up and go out to the lake and watch it come up over the mountains, absolutely beautiful.

about 7 miles from Polebridge on a very rough dirt road but you don't need to have 4x4 just watch for oncoming traffic since it is basically one lane road. worth the trouble and staying the whole day. ton of huckleberries.

Wow, what a beautiful place is Bowman Lake, hidden in far less populated corner of Glacier National Park, what a treat. The lake is beautiful and the trip to the lake is fantastic. We can't wait to go back again.I wanted to address the roads first, as my wife and I were almost turned away by what we read in other reviews. We went expecting the track to be a minefield or potholes and soft sand and we would come back with a destroyed vehicle. In actual fact if you're in any way used to Montana backroads then I would honestly say the track to Bowman Lake is actually better than some, pretty good in fact. There's a handful of potholes and sure the road is narrow, only enough for one car some of the way but there are plenty of turnouts to let cars pass and really not too many blind turns. It's really not as bad as some of the review would have you believe. You could easily make it in a sedan, even though we drive an SUV. Sure you might get some scratches but it'll be very minor at worse, we didn't get any I don't believe! Glacier NP does look after the tracks you can tell, the flora is cut back and we saw several rangers out on the tracks making sure all is good. You're not going to get stuck, the road is hard and the views are beautiful. Just PLEASE PLEASE take it slowly and be courteous to others (you're in the Montana back roads!) make sure you give room to as many as you are given room from. Use common sense, brake distance should be half of your seeing distance. A couple of out-of-state drivers were driving way too fast but really that is all. The track can get busy, usually 5 minutes or so you'll come across a car coming the opposite direction. About an hour to make the 6 mile journey, but that's being conservative and stopping to take pictures. You could probably do it in ~40 mins safely if need be.Make sure you spend some time in Polebridge, get some yummy cookies (Credit Cards welcome) and also there's a place to eat that opens at 4:00pm, full meals (the special when we went was for rib eye steak).The lake itself is stunning, crystal clear water and only the sounds of nature. We cannot wait to go there again, next time we'll be checking out Kintla Lake though but plan to go camping at either in the next few months.Other notes to consider, depending on which direction, I would recommend you enter West Glacier and head north from there. The roads are much better than going via Columbia Falls where the gravel roads are VERY bumpy for about 10 miles. You have to pay the Glacier NP entrance fee either way you go because there is a ranger station on the track heads to both Bowman and Kintla Lakes. $25 for 7 days per car or $35 for an annual pass.Also you will lose cell signal (Verizon to be specific but Verizon is really the only provider that's any good in Montana!) no long after you leave West Glacier, about 10 miles north and you'll be without coverage so plan for that. Even with an external antenna attached the mountain pretty much destroy any chances of cell reception. There is however a public phone box in Polebridge.Overall it was a beautiful day and well worth the drive, we highly recommend taking the trip to this not so famous corner of Glacier NP. It's a must see.

We took the long, rough journey to Bowman Lake - thinking we were in the middle of nowhere... We were surprised to arrive at a bustling campground and hiking area. The lake was lovely but we did not see any opportunity for canoe or kayak rental - would have been nice.... We took a short hike to the patrol cabin and had a picnic lunch. There are pit toilets, picnic tables, camping, hiking. There is an entrance fee related to entering Glacier. It is a long rough road that is almost too narrow for two vehicles. Bugs are bad - bring bug spray. Bear spray is also recommended in the Glacier area. Worth the drive!

What a gorgeous reward after a fun drive! As is mentioned in previous posts, the road there is fun to say the least! Don't take your lowered car for this trip! Curves, potholes, tight roads, single lane with oncoming traffic, tight switchbacks...but worth it! Don't forget to take all of your supplies with you as there is nothing out there...and you will be cutting and chopping your own firewood but its free (wood!). You are rewarded however with a great campsite and fantastic lake, you must go for a swim and enjoy the scenery. Quiet, well planned out and great venture. Likely the drive out is quicker as you know what to expect on the roads, Have fun!