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Wilderness Bay Fire Update: 7/16/26

wblodge

July 16, 2026

Family, Friends, Guests,

As you are probably aware, we have extreme fire danger in the Ely area, and have been directed to evacuate Wilderness Bay Lodge.  There are large, rapidly spreading fires  to the West of us near Winton, and to the Northeast in Canada.  

On Monday, we evacuated all guests and ourselves, and we relocated to Sue’s Winterhouse West of Ely.  Jay and Kaley’s house is also in the evacuation zone.  We are all safe (including pets) and managing to stay somewhat sane given the stress, smoke and heat.  

Jay and John were permitted to return to the resort Tuesday and Wednesday per Lake County Deputy to do more prep work.  They ran fire pumps and sprinklers and made final preparations to preserve buildings.  Jay plans to continue running the fire suppression sprinkler system each day as long as is allowed, and of course we are just very hopeful that the fires won’t end up reaching Snowbank at all.

We are unsure at this time when we will be permitted to return to Wilderness Bay, and operate as normal.  As of now, we have cancelled next week’s reservations. We will keep upcoming guests updated week by week as we know more.  Please reach out via e-mail if you have any questions, and we will answer as we are able. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate this situation.

Thank you to all who have reached out and offered support, kind words and prayers.  We appreciate you all being part of our “Wilderness Bay Family”.

Love, 

The Hotalings

Following a lightning storm on 6 July, the Superior National Forest has 15 active fires with over 70,000 acres burned. On Tuesday, the entire BWCAW was closed and evacuated.  Regions of Lake, St. Loius, and Cook counties are under evacuation.  If you would like to stay up to date on the current situation near Ely, Please visit the following links:

Watch Duty

Nasa Fire Maps

USFS Superior National Forest (facebook)

Newsletter

Autumn 2015

wblodge

Autumn 2015

Greetings from Wilderness Bay,

As the last leaves are falling, we’d like to thank all of our guests for another great season.

This year we picked more blueberries, ate more fish, and swam more in the deep blue waters of Snowbank. It was a truly beautiful summer!

We are now working to confirm reservations for 2016. If you haven’t done so, please send in your deposits before October 1st. This will help us know what cabins may be available for those waiting.

For next year we will be raising our rates $100.00 per cabin, but if you pay with cash or check, we will give you a discount of $50.00. We would also like to mention that we will have a new deluxe Lund Fury Boat for rent with a 25h.p. automatic motor, live well, depth finder, trolling motor and pedestal seats. If you think you might be interested, let us know.

Thanks for another great season at Wilderness Bay!

Sue, Jay, Kaley, Keith and Ron

 

 

 

Newsletter

WB Autumn Update 2014

wblodge

the bay

 

Things appear peaceful here on Snowbank.

There are no boats or canoes on the lake but there is an underlying sense of urgency amongst all the creatures dwelling here. Only a small and precious number of days remain until the “freeze-up”. So the muskrats and beavers gather feverishly while the deer begin to migrate towards town. Thousands of ciscoes storm the reef off the point cabin in a mating frenzy. I can hear them tonight as I walk down to the sauna. They are jumping like crazy which sounds like a gang of children throwing rocks into the lake.

Looking across the bay towards the portage, I see Orion, the winter-maker rising.

I feel grateful for things like these.

These are things that happen every year at the same time despite what our calendars say. For some reason, this comforts me.

I also feel grateful for all of our guests who come to Wilderness Bay year after year and share their summer vacations with us.

Sincerest wishes for a good winter,

Jay