Marian Lake Track

The Marian Lake Track can either be a short bang-for-the-buck pitstop on the Milford drive or a difficult tramp to a pristine and ultra-scenic hanging cirque lake.

The entire Marian Lake Track is a difficult 3.5km-one-way tramp up through the Fiordland jungle to the shore of the jaw-drop lake. If you’d rather not do the entire tramp due to time/fitness/whatever, then the first bit of the track still makes for a great short break on the road to/from Milford. The short excursion begins with a bouncy jaunt on the swing bridge over the gin-clear Hollyford River (Bombay Sapphire Gin!) Then 7 more minutes of easy walking brings you to the “gantry” section of Marian Creek where a sweet-as suspended catwalk hugs the rock wall above the churning “Class V” rapids of the creek for a couple hundred meters. The second gantry is your turn-back point for a short outing.

For trampers the track continues from the gantries about 45 more minutes to the shore of Lake Marian. (This track would suck in rainy weather…only go if it’s fair weather). Marian Lake is a cirque lake nestled in a bowl under the sheer crags of Mt Christina (left) and Mt Lyttle (right). This is truly phenomenal alpine scenery! The waterfall-laden ridge on lake’s left towers 1,000m straight above the lake. The track up to the lake is true tramping—rugged roots and rocks the entire way, but the payoff is huge. Marian Lake, despite the icy waterfalls cascading into it, invites a quick refreshing dip after the sweaty climb.