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DSwede Says: Snowmobiles (or ski-doos) in the winter are almost as common in Canada as snorkelers in the Caribbean. The large fields, the winding frozen river, the sloping river bluffs and the vast expansive plains atop the valley all combine to give a great terrain for snowmobiling.Lots...
Lumsden Historical Society Museum
DSwede Says: Open in the summer months, the Lumsden Museum has a series of old buildings, some of which are from the colonial day eras. There is also a display of farming machinery.
Check rural 'Craven' for a look at outback Canada!
Bwana_Brown Says: Only a few minutes after I crossed the Qu'Appelle River, I entered the small village of Craven, located on the northern valley wall overlooking the river. With a population of just 274 souls (they gained an extra 10 citizens between 2001 and 2006 according to the census)...
The Qu'Appelle is an 'ox-bow' river
Bwana_Brown Says: This view of the Qu'Appelle was actually taken about 2 weeks later when I was flying over it on a return trip from Fredericton, New Brunswick to Regina - it gives a really good view of the ox-bow characteristics of the river. Because the Qu'Appelle flows slowly down its...
Bwana_Brown Says: There were a few houses built along the river, but all were part way up into the moraine hills along the edge of the valley walls, just in case the river decided to have a flood. It looks like these people have made use of a few of those glacial rocks to decorate the...
A water control system on the Qu'Appelle River
Bwana_Brown Says: Just as I reached the outskirts of Craven while leaving town on Highway 99, I ran across these two structures streching across the river. There was a big sign next to the deserted facilities so I stopped for a closer look. On reading that these 'Control Structures' were run...
Explore the Qu'Appelle River valley
Bwana_Brown Says: Unlike the other river valleys I had seen in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the Qu'Appelle River has cut itself a very wide valley with flat and fertile soil between its two valley walls. The others seem to have cut into the earth like a knife and are much more rugged looking...
The strange 'moraine' valley walls of the river
Bwana_Brown Says: The landscape of the valley walls is a constant jumble of gently rolling hills and valleys, created when the Qu'Appelle River cut its way down through the hundreds of feet of glacial till deposited across the Prairies about 12,000-years ago. When the last Ice Age melted...
A small river for such a wide valley!
Bwana_Brown Says: After driving across the flat or gently rolling Prairies for miles and miles, it is always a pleasure to come across a river valley. However, because of its 1-mile wide valley floor, the Qu'Appelle is an especially welcoming sight! It flows for about 270-miles (430-km) from...
Helpfulness
It just happened to be noon when I finally rolled into the village of Craven, so I decided to have lunch since there would not be any other chances on the route I was planning to take through the Qu'Appelle River valley. The Port Hyman Plaza along main Highway 20 seemed to be the biggest establishment in town and it had an attached restaurant that didn't look too bad, called the Craven Country Restaurant. Actually, I wanted to check it out anyway just to see what the service and food was like in a small village like this. Over the course of my meal, there was a varied bunch of customers ranging from a grandfather/grandson combo, a group of four guys in their twenties, a bunch of youngsters in their early teens and a stylish couple in their late twenties. The fact that he was wearing shorts on this 0 C day wasn't surprising, because it is amazing how warm that feels after 3-4 months of temperatures in the -20 to -40 C range!
Favorite Dish: I'd had a bigger than usual breakfast so kept my order down to their simple 'soup & sandwich special'. I didn't really care what it was but it turned out to be a tasty combo of potatoe soup with bacon bits, carrots and celery (which I spiced up with Tabasco sauce and pepper) along with a tuna salad & lettuce sandwich on toasted brown bread (C$6). I was in no rush, so ate slowly and washed it down with a cold 5% alcohol-content Canadian lager beer. Including a tip for the friendly and efficient waitress, the meal came to only C$12.50. I would eat there again!
Updated Mar 22, 2008
Address: 2 Fraser Avenue, Craven, Saskatchewan
There are only a couple of watering holes in Lumsden and Craven. They definitely are small town pubs, with no frills. They are the type of places where everyone known everyone. While they will welcome a stranger with a smile, they will know you are out of towners. One such place is the Craven Motor Inn.
Dress Code: Dress code?! Seriously, anything goes.
Updated Jan 19, 2011
Address: HW 641
Phone: +1 306-731-3455
The river has been bridged a few times
Bwana_Brown Says: My drive along the Qu'Appelle River ended where Highway 99 returned to connect with Highway 6, one of the main provincial roads. It was there that I saw three bridges in a row, with the first two no longer in operation. This view of the middle of the three was taken from the...
It was nice to get away from the traffic!
Bwana_Brown Says: You really have to have a car to explore in Saskatchewan and, for once, it was nice to get off the main highways and onto some of Saskatchewan's lesser roads. Just north of Regina I swung off Highway 6 onto the unpaved secondary Highway 729 and the traffic immediately...
Basically, it is a farming area
Bwana_Brown Says: As I made my back-road approach to the Qu'Appelle River valley via unpaved Highway 729, I came across this not unusual scene of a couple of dilapidated barns with some beef cattle settled down in front of them. I've never before lived in a place where the winds blow like...
This machine has a lot of history!
Bwana_Brown Says: As I pulled into the local Esso garage/convenience store for a bottle of water just before lunch, I could not help but notice this old Massey-Harris type 55 plow-equipped tractor sitting on the property. Although produced only from 1946-55, this old beast was still up to the...
The scenic Qu'Appelle River valley
Saturday on the Easter weekend turned out to be a sunny and mild day, with comfortable temperatures right around the freezing mark. After a long and cold winter, it felt great to have a long-weekend...
Lumsden is about 35km outside of Regina. Although the valley Lumsden sits in might be a small one, it is rather large and pronounced relative to the vast expanses of Saskatchewan. Lumsden is a quiet...
Build your own Lumsden page
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