Qu'Appelle Valley

The Qu'Appelle Valley runs about four hundred and thirty kilometres across southern Saskatchewan, up to two kilometres wide and a hundred metres deep, and the modest river winding along the bottom did not cut it: it was carved by torrents of glacial meltwater draining the retreating ice sheet, leaving a valley that is now far larger than its stream. A chain of lakes fills the floor. The name translates a Cree story of a voice calling across the water and being answered by an echo, and Pauline Johnson wrote a well-known poem on it. Fort Qu'Appelle, Katepwa and the Fishing Lakes are the main settlements.

What you actually see

• The oversized valley - a meltwater channel far bigger than its river.
• The lake chain - Pasqua, Echo, Mission and Katepwa on the valley floor.
• The valley rim - a sudden drop from flat prairie into the trench.
• The Cree name story - the calling voice legend the valley carries.

When to go

May to September for the lakes and beaches; autumn colour in the valley aspen is good. Winter brings ice fishing. The valley shelters and warms compared with the plain above.

Honest expectations

Lake water quality varies and algae blooms close beaches in some summers. The valley communities are small and seasonal. Access roads down the sides are steep.

Nearby

Regina lies south; Moose Jaw is southwest.