Philip Depot – Site 1

This is a very basic, portage adjacent campsite. Located about 50 meters from the Philip Lake end of the P1080 between Philip Lake and the Little Madawaska River, this is a site that screams “only if I have to”. 

I’ll explain.

For starters, there isn’t a ton of useable area dedicated to this site. There’s room for a tent, maybe two, but you’ll likely be encroaching on the portage that goes directly by this campsite (this portage, btw, is great. Wide, easy to follow and seemingly downhill the entire way from Philip to the river). The fire pit area is more or less the extent of the campsite, and it’s not much of a fire pit. It does have a view towards a bend in the Little Madawaska, but it’s an obstructed view. That obstruction is something to think about, as the access to the river for refilling and filtering water isn’t exactly seamless. There’s a small slope down to the water, but nothing that’s going to cause too many problems.

On the plus side, the site is flat and easy to navigate. You’re also in the middle of an historic zone, so if you’ve got some time you can explore the nearby woods to find remnants of the Depot Farm that once stood here. Other than that? I’d give this one a miss unless it was late in the day and you just need a place to stop. There are better sites just upstream on Philip Lake itself.