Wakaw Lake Regional Park
Wakaw - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 Images by: Judy and Timothy Shire
The Saskatchewan Regional Park system is quite remarkable with parks scattered all across the province. Some centred around lakes and beaches but the majority are golf courses that have become regional parks to gains some provincial support for their local course. This is to the benefit of the province as we have some of the country’s best golf course and they are a part of the setting and terrain in which they are located. The whole process of enhancing these recreational facilities provides the province with not only the golf course but also the picnic green spots and campgrounds that are part of the programme.
Wakaw Lake extends for more than seven miles in a valley east of the town of Wakaw and is home to a host of summer cabins. This makes the regional park a combination of a beach park and a golf course as Wakaw Lake Regional Park is both. In additions its vast campground is home to a significant population of people who have chosen instead of building or buying a summer cabin, they have rented a campsite from the park where they have located their camper of one kind or another. These camp sites are truly remarkable many with semi-permanent structures that compliment their camper, fifth wheel, or in some cases small mobile houses. All in all it makes a great summer recreational community enhanced with a beach, several playgrounds and a really great golf course.
We have been visiting regional parks this summer and appreciate the local uniqueness of each park and admire the resourcefulness of the people who have worked to create these great parks with their great facilities.
Wakaw Lake Regional Park is really a well rounded destination site. The restaurant and store are first rate and we enjoyed an outstanding breakfast on this past Thursday morning less than eighty metres from our campsite.
But we were really impressed with the whole infrastructure that accompanies the various components of this park. Like so many other Saskatchewan regional parks this one at Wakaw is not standing pat but improvements and construction projects continue as they work toward improving and further developing what is already a great recreational spot in the middle of Saskatchewan.
The park is located on the North side of the seven mile long lake five kilometres north on highway #2 and ten kilometres east on a savage washboard gravel road. This road was once a paved highway but like so many similar rural highways the department of highways ripped up the membrane pavement leaving a crunching dusty road that took almost half an hour creeping along the washboard trying not to destroy our motorhome. The following day (Thursday) we glided along that same road in five minutes as a grader had made a pass up and down the road and it was once more passable.
All you need to do is take a new highway map and notice how many grey lined roads have replaced or partly replaced the blue line on the map indicating a secondary membrane paved highway. The destruction of this highway network is a serious step backward in Saskatchewan. Thanks to the removal of railways and the use of “B” train grain trucks we have a 1950s road system.
