Lake Marian

The Lake Marian walk leads you up through beech forest into a glacially carved valley with Lake Marian providing a picturesque foreground. On a still day the reflection of mountains in the lake makes for an outstanding half day walk into an alpine environment. The landforms you can see include some textbook glacial features.
This valley has been described as a hanging valley created when a relatively small tributary glacier joined the much thicker Hollyford valley glacier. However the steep valley walls of the Marian Valley continue all the way down to a much lower junction with the Hollyford Valley. The lake has actually been formed by a large landslide that blocked the valley to create the lake whilst also filling the lower valley with debris.

On the way up the track from the car park you will pass the spectacular Marian Falls and then continue steeply up through the forest until you arrive at the lake. Notice the main U shaped valley around and beyond the lake as well as other features on Mount Crosscut in the distance. There are arêtes which are knife edge ridges leading up to the summit, created by glaciers eroding back from different sides of the mountain. Also look for high hanging glaciers and rock pinnacles (gendarmes). If you take a short walk along the west side of the lake you will come across a rockfall debris fan and get a view of Sabre Peak, further back and to the east of Mount Crosscut.
The rocks around Lake Marian are part of an elongated plutonic intrusion into older volcanic rocks, having crystallised deep within the earth betwen about 180 to 210 million years ago. They range in composition from diorites to granites.