11 Things to Do in Phillips WI Besides the Bars

Phillips has bars. Everyone knows that. But if you think that’s all the town has, you miss what actually makes people stay. The lakes sit right there. The old rail grade runs through town. History sits on the shoreline. We have spent enough time in Price County to know the difference between what the brochures say and what actually works on a Tuesday afternoon.

Here are 11 things worth doing in Phillips that have nothing to do with a stool at the bar.

1. Boat or paddle the Phillips Chain of Lakes

The chain starts with Lake Duroy right in town and runs through Elk Lake, Long Lake, and Wilson Lake. You can put in at the public access on Duroy and spend the day moving between them without ever hitting the same stretch twice. The water stays deep enough for small motors in most sections, and the shoreline stays wooded enough that you still feel like you left town behind.

We have watched families spend entire weekends on this chain. The fishing holds up. The swimming stays decent. The wind stays manageable most days. If you only do one thing on the water in Price County, make it this chain.

2. Bike the Phillips Chain Trail

This used to be the railroad grade that brought the first loggers here in the 1870s. Now it is a flat, crushed-stone path that runs from Phillips north toward Park Falls and south toward Prentice. The surface stays good for hybrids and gravel bikes. The tree cover keeps it shaded even in July.

Local riders use it for quick morning loops and full-day rides that connect with other trails. You pass beaver ponds, old trestle remnants, and the occasional deer. No cars. No hills worth complaining about. Just the old grade doing what it always did, moving people through the woods.

3. Walk downtown Phillips

The main street still has actual businesses that locals use. You can grab coffee, pick up hardware, check out the library, and see what the historical society has on display without driving anywhere. The buildings survived the 1894 fire that wiped out most of the original town, and some of them still carry that old Northwoods commercial look.

We stop here every time we pass through. It takes twenty minutes to see the core, and you always find something you did not expect. The post office sits in the middle. The pharmacy has been there longer than most people in town. Nothing fancy, just the stuff that keeps a small city running.

4. Visit the 1894 Fire Memorial on Lake Duroy

Thirteen people died when fire swept through Phillips in July 1894. The town had been logging country for less than twenty years. The memorial sits on the Duroy shoreline where people gathered after the evacuation. It is a simple marker, but the story hits harder when you stand where it happened and look at what grew back.

The fire started southwest of town and moved fast through dry slash and standing timber. Most of the original buildings burned. The town rebuilt on the same spot. Memorial is the only place in Phillips where the fire still feels close.

5. Swim or picnic at Elk Lake Park

Elk Lake has a public beach and the Chain-O-Lakes Campground sits right on it. The sand stays clean enough for kids. The water warms up by late June. Locals use it for everything from after-work swims to weekend camping trips that never leave Price County.

The park has picnic tables, grills, and a pavilion you can reserve. We have seen full family reunions here that never needed to leave the grounds. The campground fills on holiday weekends, but mid-week spots usually open up. It is the easiest way to stay on the water without driving to a state park.

6. Fish Duroy and the connected lakes

The chain holds walleye, bass, northern, and panfish in decent numbers. Duroy gets the most pressure because it sits in town, but the other lakes in the chain stay quieter. We have pulled decent walleye out of Long Lake on summer evenings when the wind lay down.

Our fishing guide covers the county in more detail, but the Phillips chain deserves its own mention. The public access points stay open year-round, and the DNR stocks walleye on a regular rotation. You do not need a boat to reach fishable water.

7. Stop at the Price County Historical Society

The museum sits in Fifield, ten minutes north of Phillips on Highway 13. It holds the county records, old photos, logging tools, and the kind of artifacts that tell you what life looked like before the highway came through. The building itself used to be a school.

Hours run Saturday and Sunday 11 to 3 from the first full weekend in June through Labor Day. The volunteers know the stories behind the objects. If you want to understand why Phillips looks the way it does, this is the place that keeps the receipts.

8. See the Wind Capital turbine site

After a 1977 windstorm knocked down 850,000 acres of timber in Price County, Phillips High School students decided to try something different. In 1980 they raised a wind turbine on school grounds with help from the utility and a federal grant. Governor Lee Dreyfus named Phillips the Wind Capital of Wisconsin that same year.

The original turbine is gone, but the story still matters. You can see the old tower base if you know where to look. It is one of the few places in rural Wisconsin where high school kids put power on the grid before most people even talked about renewables.

9. Use the Phillips Public Library

The library sits downtown and does work beyond lending books. It hosts local history displays, meeting space, and the kind of practical information that never makes it onto websites. The staff knows which trails are open, which lakes are biting, and where the county fairgrounds events land on the calendar.

We have used small-town libraries across the Northwoods. Phillips keeps its collection current and its doors open. If you need a quiet place to plan the rest of your day or print a map, this is it.

10. Drive to Timms Hill

Timms Hill sits twenty miles west of Phillips and tops out at 1,951 feet, the highest natural point in Wisconsin. The drive takes you through county forest land that still feels remote. The observation tower at the top gives you a view that stretches into Michigan on clear days.

The park around the hill has trails and a small picnic area. We make the trip when we want elevation without leaving Price County. It is the kind of place that reminds you the Northwoods still has corners most visitors never reach.

11. Camp at Chain-O-Lakes Campground

The campground sits on Elk Lake with direct beach access. Sites run from basic tent pads to full hookups. The shower house stays clean. The boat launch stays busy. It is the only campground in Phillips where you can roll out of your tent and be on the water in under two minutes.

Reservations go through the city. Weekends book faster than weekdays, but the shoulder seasons stay wide open. We have used it as a base for multi-day bike rides on the rail trail and still had time left for the lakes. It beats driving back to a motel every night.

Pro Tip: Getting Your UTV to A&W Phillips

A question came up recently in the Price County Events & Information Exchange Facebook group from a resident heading to A&W on their UTV: “Does anyone know if you can take a UTV to A&W in Phillips due to not being able to go on Hwy 13?”

Highway 13 is off-limits to UTVs in the Phillips area, which cuts off the most direct route to A&W on the south side of town. But locals confirmed there are workarounds:

Take Pine Crest Road. It connects to the back side of A&W without touching the highway. Riders use it regularly during the summer months.

Or take Shaw Street and park behind A&W. There is road access behind the restaurant with stairs leading down to the parking lot. Pull in, park the UTV, and walk down.

Multiple group members confirmed they see UTVs parked at A&W all the time using these routes. The key is staying off Highway 13 entirely — the Shaw Street and Pine Crest approaches keep you on legal UTV routes the whole way.

If you are riding the Phillips area trail system and want a burger and root beer without trailering your machine back to town, this is how you do it.