by Dave Yanko

In many years of crisscrossing Saskatchewan collecting stories for Virtual Saskatchewan and other publications, I've had a secret agenda tucked away in a dark little corner of my mind. No matter where I go, no matter what subject I pursue, I want to find the best beaches in Saskatchewan. Beach equals summer equals fun. Questions?

Fortunately, Saskatchewan has an abundance of great beaches. Some are popular and colourful places where children squeal and Frisbees colour the sky, while others are quiet, off-the-beaten path retreats known to few people outside of their immediate region. My list of "Top Seven Beaches in Saskatchewan'' is subjective, of course. But at least one of my choices earned a spot on a "Top 10 Beaches in Canada'' list.

If you haven't been exploring Saskatchewan beaches yourself, maybe it's time to dust off the water wings. When it comes to beaches, Saskatchewan has something to suit, ahem, just about everybody.

A friend who grew up in Regina spent his summers at Echo Lake in the Calling Lakes region of the Qu'Appelle Valley. After a fair bit of globetrotting in his younger years, he told me there's no place on Earth he'd rather be in the summertime than Saskatchewan. We have the sunniest skies in Canada, beautifully hot weather and great places like Echo Lake.

- courtesy Tourism Saskatchewan

There's just nothing like a great beach.

Katepwa Lake is one of a chain of four lakes that includes Echo, Mission and Pasqua. Katepwa Beach, part of tiny Katepwa Point Provincial Park, is one hour and half a world from Regina. It's the place I first associated with summer fun. In hindsight, the actual beach is good—not extraordinary—and the water not as clear as you'll find in our more northerly lakes. But Katepwa's setting beneath dimpled velvet hills on the north side of the Qu'Appelle Valley is the backdrop to many youthful summers spent swimming, water skiing, fishing, socializing, seeking summer romance and finding it occasionally, too. Along with the odd scrape, black eye and "fifty-two-fifties'' shared among friends.

The main beach on Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park is one of the most popular in Saskatchewan. On a hot summer day, the big beach in the resort community of Waskesiu teems with humanity. But my favourite swimming hole in the park—and I have several—is quiet Tripps Beach, located on the Narrows Road across the lake.

Tripps is a picnic beach—there's no camping in the immediate vicinity. For me, that accounts for a good deal of its charm. Waskesiu is a beautiful lake that remains very clean in spite of its fairly heavy use. At Tripps, you and perhaps one or two other parties can share the clear water and pleasant surroundings with the motorboats no more than a distant buzz.

We used to visit Tripps when our kids were young because we could play Frisbee and still keep careful watch over the youngsters. Tripps features several nicely treed picnic spots that open right onto the beach. So when it's time for mom and dad to grill burgers or sit down in a camp chair and enjoy a cold pop, the kids are right there in front of you. Hang out at Tripps for the afternoon and then zip over to the town site for ice cream cones. Now that is a pleasant summer afternoon.

If quiet sounds boring, try the main beach at Candle Lake Provincial Park on a hot summer day in August. Located at Sandy Bay Campground on the west side of the lake, Candle's main beach is a classic beauty with wonderful sand, a fairly gentle slope and a gorgeous bay setting that's no doubt a setting to thousands upon thousands of great summer memories.

- courtesy Tourism Saskatchewan

Candle Lake's beaches are among the most popular in the province.

Fragile sand dune formations and great sunset vistas await visitors to quieter Minowukaw beach, on the other side of Candle Lake. Minowukaw is still recovering from a clearing of diseased trees in the area. But it's still the best place in park to try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious lights or "candles'' that give the lake its name.

Waskateena beach, meanwhile, sits at the south end of the lake near the restaurants and shops of the Resort Village of Candle Lake. Sandy Bay, Minowukaw and Waskateena equal 7 km of some of the best beaches in Canada and they're less than an hour's drive north of Prince Albert.

The first time I visited Lake Diefenbaker in the early 1970s, this reservoir that was created by the damming of the South Saskatchewan and Qu'Appelle rivers seemed to be trying too hard to become a popular recreation spot. The spanking new parking lot and hand-planted trees at freshly minted Douglas Provincial Park were the stuff of no one's memories, save for the odd First Nation's person who may have hunted here long, long ago.

Those struggling twigs from decades ago today are handsome shade trees, while Douglas park features an amazing 20-km beach that sits smack dab in the middle of the prairies—well, so long as the water in the reservoir isn't too high. A short hike back from the beach takes you to a land of cacti and sand dunes, one of which is a kilometre long and 25 metres high.

Strong prairie breezes that make Diefenbaker a boon to sailboaters and wind surfers can create large waves that are great fun for beach goers. I love the notion of some east- or west-coast Canadians hiking along the adjacent Trans-Canada Trail and looking up to see people body surfing and sailing in landlocked Saskatchewan.

One of my favourite off-the-beaten path beaches is one we discovered some years ago while my wife Renée and I were camping at Chitek Lake, about two-and-a-half hours north of Saskatoon. Using Chitek as our base, we set off on local logging roads just to see if we could get lost. Well, not really. That's just what I told Renée.

One day we headed east to the Town of Big River, where after turning down an offer to purchase the local Chinese restaurant we set off for Nesslin Lake, which adheres to the western edge of Prince Albert National Park.

Nesslin Lake lies at the end of an ever-narrowing logging road that curves and rolls and dips in and out of the national park just to the east. It's a strange road. Virtually all the signs that warn of sharp curves and steep hills are placed for outbound traffic. It's as though, if you have the ability to navigate your way in to Nesslin Lake, the powers that be acquiesce and give you a hand on the way back out. But you know, the beach at Nesslin is worth the harry.

- courtesy Tourism Saskatchewan

Summer plays out like theatre at Nesslin.

Formed like a great amphitheatre with a steep orientation towards water's edge, Nesslin Beach hugs a nice little bay where all the typical water activities of summer are apt to play out before your very eyes. It's a beautiful beach whose status is enhanced by its out-of-the-way nature. The water is deep, cool and drops off sharply just a few metres from the shore—parents should keep a short leash on their non-swimmers.

Each summer, the campground at Nesslin fills to overflowing with visitors to the annual Ness Creek Festival that takes place just 15 minutes back up the road. A pleasant fellow in a tie-dyed t-shirt who was cleaning up the clean beach when we encountered him told us Nesslin is so deep it's the last lake in the area to freeze and thaw. That explains the cold water.

At the other end of the safety spectrum—and well known to many residents of the province—is the superb beach at Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park. Good Spirit shares company with places like Long Beach on Vancouver Island and Sauble Beach in Ontario as one of the "Top 10 Beaches in Canada'', as selected some years ago by Maclean's Magazine. It's a worthy member of the club.

No other easily accessible beach in Saskatchewan offers such a great reach of shallow water (Kingsmere in Prince Albert park comes close, however, the south-end swimming area is much smaller and getting there is a long hike for small people). It's perfect for young kids but quite enjoyable, too, for anyone who likes the feeling of standing on a nice, sandy bottom in (what almost seems like) the middle of a lake. Good Spirit, located half an hour northwest of Yorkton off Hwy #229, is an outstanding Frisbee lake.

The entire park has a comfortable, hand-in-glove feel to it. Part of this comes from knowing Good Spirit is one of the original six provincial parks established in 1931—its lure was obvious early on. It's more a place of recreation than exploration and the beach is an extension of this. Yet, there are 250 acres of shifting sand dunes just half and hour by trail around the south end of the lake. Who knows, you may even catch a glimpse of the nefarious antlion larva, whose tendency to trap small insects by creating vortices in the sand beneath them should have been fodder for a '50s sci-fi monster flick.

OK, I've saved the best for last. And no, it's not Kimball, Emma, Chitek or Greenwater, as wonderful as those beaches are. The best beach in Saskatchewan is . . . well, it doesn't actually have a name. Not that I'm aware of, anyway. It's situated across the lake and down a bit from Big Island Cove Resort, on Lac des Isles in Meadow Lake Provincial Park. It's our own little "private'' beach where we've spent memorable afternoons swimming, tubing, reading or simply luxuriating under the summer sun and tanning our teeth.

It's a magnificently peaceful spot in spite of the fact it's only a few hundred metres from where our then-infant daughter was sized up for dinner by a big bald eagle perched above our drifting boat. You can find it pretty easily if you want to—I'm sure others consider it their own little private beach, as well. You can also find your own private beach elsewhere on Lac des Isles or on any one of many, many lakes that dot this province. After all, a favourite beach is a state of mind as much as a place. A favourite beach is summer, with all the gilded memories and reverence that implies for people who live in a place with four very distinct seasons.

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