Category: Uncategorized

July 28, 2026 

Family, Friends, Guests,

We are so pleased to be reopening for guests this coming Saturday, August 1st!

Fire crews in the area have made positive progress, and the Camp Fire near Winton and the Fernberg Road is now 46% contained.  The Fernberg Corridor is open again, and properties in this proximity have been dialed back to a “SET” evacuation status.  We have been allowed to  safely return to the Wilderness Bay property and may operate the resort business.  Things are stable and we are safe at Wilderness Bay. However, we must comply with certain restrictions from Lake County and the US Forest Service.

• The Public Landing/Access is closed; guests may not bring their own boats.  
• Boats are only allowed on the south end of Snowbank outside of the Boundary Waters (as the BWCA is still partially closed).
• There is a forest wide fire ban in place: This Order restricts the ignition, building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire, including charcoal grills and barbeques, coal, and woodburning stoves to reduce the likelihood of a wildfire within the Superior National Forest 
• We are currently still under a SET evacuation status.  Guests must be prepared to evacuate immediately if the status changes from SET to GO.  (We are hopeful that this status could be dialed back even further by Saturday.)

Finally, air quality and smoke are a potential issue.  We have been fortunate to have had decent air quality the last several days. We recommend that you check the link below for air quality forecasts, and consider bringing an air purifier to run in your cabin. 

AirNow:  https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Ely&state=MN&country=USA

Snowbank is still safe, peaceful and beautiful. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Wilderness Bay especially during this weird and wild time!   

We send additional updates as things change but for now, please let us know if you have any questions.

Warmly,

Sue, Jay and Kaley

July 22, 2026

Family, Friends, Guests,

Many of you may be following the current fire emergency in the Ely area.  We wanted to provide an update of the situation as it pertains to WIlderness Bay Lodge and the Hotaling Family.

Over 900 fire and emergency personnel are working hard to mitigate fire activity. A Level One team of firefighters was assigned to the area emergency early this week. Personnel are currently working very hard along the Fernberg and all the way out to Snowbank on structure protection. In addition, Jay has been able to return to the resort 5 of the 8 days that we have been out, to run sprinklers and further fire prep the property. Fortunately, the fires are still several miles away from Snowbank Lake. We’re optimistic that structures at Wilderness Bay and Jay and Kaley’s home will be saved if fires pass through.

We are in peak fire season in Northeastern Minnesota, and the status of the fires is highly weather dependent. We have experienced quite a bit of warm, dry weather and some high winds.  Fortunately, we did also receive some rain.  The fire crews have done tremendous work in the last few days, given the unfavorable fire conditions.  We are happy to report that the Camp Fire is now 23% contained. 

The past week has been filled with much anxiety and uncertainty but we are feeling blessed in so many ways. We have experienced such an outpouring of love from friends, family, neighbors, guests. The Ely community has rallied to support each other as well as the visiting fire and emergency personnel.  Yesterday Jay turned 49. Celebrating anywhere other than Wilderness Bay felt unnatural (and unprecedented) but surrounded by friends and family it’s hard to be anything other than grateful. 

We sincerely thank you for your thoughts, prayers and support.  We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

Love, 

The Hotalings

We are corresponding only via e-mail at this time.  We are constantly monitoring the area fire emergency.  Because of the uncertainty of the situation, we are individually notifying upcoming guests about reservations on a week to week basis. 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)

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)