Lac à Mars

The lac à Mars is a fresh body of water in the watershed of the rivière à Mars North-West, the rivière à Mars and the Saguenay River. This body of water is located in the unorganized territory of Lac-Pikauba, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. Lac à Mars is located in the central eastern part of the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve.
Upstream of the port, industrial and urban area, the rivière à Mars valley is mainly served by the Consol Paper road. The rivière à Mars North-West is served by a few other secondary forest roads for forestry and recreational tourism activities.
Forestry is the main economic activity in the sector; recreational tourism, second.
The surface of the lac à March is usually frozen from the beginning of December to the end of March, however the safe circulation on the ice is generally made from mid-December to mid-March.

Geography

The mouth of Lac à Mars is located about northeast of the boundary of the administrative regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Capitale-Nationale. The main watersheds near Lake Mars are:

north side: Cyriac River, rivière à Mars North-West, rivière à Mars, rivière à Pierre, ruisseau au Goéland;
east side: rivière à Mars, Raymond lake, Vents lake, Chemin des Canots River;
south side: Lac des Pas Perdus, Bouleaux lake, Pas Perdus lake, Grand lac des Enfers, Philippe stream, Chicoutimi River;
west side: Pikauba Lake, Davis lake, Fortier lake, Claveau brook, Noir brook, Apica River.

Lac à Mars has a length of in the shape of a woman's head seen in semi-profile, a maximum width of, an altitude is and an area of. This lake has a narrow bay stretching to the east. It also has a narrowing to in its southern part. A peninsula attached to the eastern shore stretching on in the shape of a hook causes another narrowing in the northern part of the lake. The mouth of this lake is located at the bottom of a bay on the north shore, at:

east of a mountain peak reaching ;
north of Lac des Bouleaux;
west of the course of the rivière à Mars;
east of a bay on Pikauba Lake;
south of the confluence of the rivière à Mars North-West and the rivière à Mars;
south-east of downtown Saguenay (city).

From the confluence of the lac à Mars, the current descends the course of:

the rivière à Mars North-West on generally towards the north;
the rivière à Mars on generally towards the north;
the Baie des Ha! Ha! on towards the northeast;
the Saguenay River on eastwards to Tadoussac where it merges with the Saint Lawrence estuary.

Toponymy

The place names “Rivière à Mars”, “Rivière à Mars Nord-Ouest” and “Lac à Mars” have the same origin.
The toponym "lac à Mars" was formalized on December 5, 1968, by the Commission de toponymie du Québec.