Marble Canyon (British Columbia)

For other places with the same name, see Marble Canyon (disambiguation).

Marble Canyon is a small canyon in the south-central Interior of British Columbia, Canada a few kilometres east of the Fraser River and the community of Pavilion, British Columbia,^[1] approximately midway between the towns of Lillooet and Cache Creek. A collapsed karst formation, the canyon's name comes from the brilliant limestone of its walls. Despite the name, however, the bedrock is microcrystalline limestone (sedimentary rock) rather than marble (metamorphic rock). The north wall is over 965m (3150') high above Pavilion Lake and is the southernmost extent of the Marble Range; the south wall is c. 515m (1500') and is the northern extremity of the Clear Range. Higher peaks lie in behind the walls, increasing the depth if measured from their summits.

Aboriginal names

The native name of the canyon in the Shuswap language is, when referring to the whole, sxmeltám, possibly referring to "Indian doctors"^[2], while the name for the area of Crown and Turquoise Lakes and the provincial campground and adjoining south wall is getsgátsp, of unknown meaning. These areas and Pavilion Lake, in addition to being provincial park, are also governed by special cultural rights and have important spiritual significance of the Pavilion Band.^[3] In addition to the steep walls rising from the lake's southeastern end, there is an eroded pinnacle known as Chimney Rock, or in a translation of K'lpalekw, the Secwepemc (Shuswap) name for it, Coyote's Penis.^[4]

Stromatolites - "freshwater coral"

Within the canyon are a series of lakes draining towards the Fraser River via Pavilion Creek. The largest of these is Pavilion Lake, which is home to a very large colony of microbialites (also known as stromatolites), unusual carbonate structures built by bacteria which resemble freshwater "coral" and which are the largest freshwater stromatolites in the world.^[5][6]

Rock and ice climbing

Marble Canyon is popular with climbers, both for its clean rock walls and also for excellent ice climbs, including one waterfall that freezes solid midwinter (officially Crown Lake Falls but to climbers, "Icy BC"), and which is immediately opposite the provincial park campground adjacent to Highway 99 from Lillooet to Cache Creek.^[7][8]

See also

• Marble Canyon Provincial Park
• Marble Canyon 3 (Indian Reserve)
• Pavilion, British Columbia
• Pavilion Lake
• Hat Creek (British Columbia)
• Upper Hat Creek, British Columbia
• Upper Hat Creek 1 (Indian Reserve)
• Lower Hat Creek, British Columbia (Carquile/Hat Creek Ranch)
• Lower Hat Creek 2 (Indian Reserve)

References

1. ^ "Marble Canyon (canyon)". BC Geographical Names. http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/5550.html. 
2. ^ Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia, "Native names for Marble Canyon", citing an essay by R. Tyhurst's in A Complex Culture of the British Columbia Plateau, Brian Hayden's, SFU Press
3. ^ BC Parks Marble Canyon Provincial Park webpage
4. ^ "Chimney Rock", Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
5. ^ BC Parks Marble Canyon Provincial Park webpage
6. ^ Pavilion Lake Research Project
7. ^ BC Parks Marble Canyon Provincial Park webpage
8. ^ Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia entry

Coordinates: 50°50′00″N 121°41′00″W / 50.8333333°N 121.6833333°W / 50.8333333; -121.6833333