Philip Lake – Site 4

This is a great little site tucked away on Philip’s south shore. It’s protected from the east by a small point. If you don’t know it’s there, you could easily paddle right past it on your way towards Hogan. And that would be a shame. The site sits at the tip of a small point, at the base of a steep hill, and is fronted by a crescent beach. It doesn’t have the biggest footprint, but the area it does have is more than enough for a couple of tents. The terrain is flat, mostly dirt and sand dotted with free standing pine. The beach makes for awesome swimming and there’s a great spot at the tip of the small point to sit and watch the sunset.

The site proper is compact. The fire pit area is just back of the beach. It’s got a nice, unobstructed view out to Philip, but this means that there’s nothing to obstruct a strong onshore wind coming from the west. We were there on a windy night,  and it was cold. The other drawback to a compact site is that the thunderbox isn’t that far away from the rest of the site. And it’s not very private, either. There are only a few pines dotted around the site, and it turns out that a couple of quasi telephone poles isn’t enough to turn off the view.

The swimming and canoe landing is awesome, as you might expect from a beach site. There were no underwater obstacles on the approach and it’s a great place to wade out. The terrain underfoot stays soft and sandy for a good distance into the lake.