Bow Creek has been historically nearly devoid of life, but is now considered to be Class A Wild Trout Waters.

Wisconsinan Till, alluvium, and bedrock consisting of sandstone, shale, conglomerate, and coal occur in the watershed.

Several volatile organic compounds have been detected in small amounts in surface water in the watershed.

It flows south for several tenths of a mile until reaching the community of Glen Summit, where it turns west and crosses Pennsylvania Route 437.

[4] Three volatile organic compounds have been detected in surface water in the watershed of Bow Creek: 1,1-Dichloroethene, 1,2-Dichloroethene, and trichloroethene.

[2] The stream's mouth is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Wilkes-Barre West.

[8] In the early 1900s, the Luzerne County commissioners received approval to construct a bridge across Bow Creek in Wright Township.

[11] A concrete tee beam bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 309 was constructed over Bow Creek in 1929.

[13] In the 1970s, the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Resources had a significant amount of interest in Bow Creek.

[6] A request was made in 2012 to redesignate Bow Creek and several dozen other streams as High Quality Coldwater Fisheries due to the fact that they already met the requirements for Class A Wild Trout Waters status.

[16] In the early 1970s, Bow Creek was nearly devoid of aquatic life and its streambed was covered in large populations of Sphaerotilus, a sewage bacterium.