Hey Guys,

Looking for general advice. My partner and I are putting in on EP #45 next Monday. Option A is to stay at the 5 star on Vista (fingers crossed, but aware of the reality). If that is taken, we were going to play it by ear. We want to stay in the general area around Horseshoe. We are looking to base camp, fish when we can, and enjoy some wilderness.

Anybody have any suggestions for campsites & lakes if Vista is full?

Do not hesitate to head to Gaskin. Still close enough to Horseshoe with a simple portage. From Gaskin, one portage into Winchell or Henson. Lots of great campsite choices in Gaskin - including my favorite, the Mondale site!

BigTim: "Do not hesitate to head to Gaskin. Still close enough to Horseshoe with a simple portage. From Gaskin, one portage into Winchell or Henson. Lots of great campsite choices in Gaskin - including my favorite, the Mondale site!"

Agree. Unfortunately not a lot of great options immediate to Vista . The site across from the one you want on Vista is OK, but the 3rd site on Vista is abysmal. Also, the sites on Misquah, Lux and Karl range from not great to pretty bad. Although, the site on Karl is passable and a good option for last night before headed out (if you're going back out the same way).

If the 2 Vista sites are full, your best bet is to push through to HorseShoe and beyond to Gaskin. Much better, and more, site options there. Caribou will likely be pretty crowded so, if it were me, I wouldn't head in there either but push on to Gaskin.

My brother and I got lucky and landed the 5 star site on Vista a couple weeks ago. It’s a great site for base camping. Never got to check out the site close to it because it was occupied nonstop all week. Like others have said the 3rd site on Vista is horrible. Our plan if we were unable to get a site on Vista was to push through to Gaskin.

Agree with heading to Gaskin. If you can snag the Mondale site you won’t be disappointed.

I agree with Gaskin (fingers crossed), but it can also get quite full, especially on weekends. You can drop into the eastern end of Winchell or head to Allen or Hensen. Hensen was completely empty over 4th of July weekend last year, but the campsites there are not ideal for base camping. But they will do if everything else is full.