I have skipped the last two years due to back issues. This year, my kids and their spouses are coming with me and have volunteered to do the heavy portage lifting, so its time to return. I'm planning an easy 6 day trip in July, entering at Snowbank, going through Ima, Thomas, Alice, Insula and out through Lake One. I will be starting on a Sunday and leaving on the following Friday. I need to choose approximately where the last campsite should be. I have found in the past that Lakes 1,2 and 3 are usually crowded, with many large groups of partiers. I have had luck with Fire Lake but I hesitate to count on it. The last time I was in this area, The south end of Insula and all of Hudson Lake were still pretty damaged from the fire a few years back. But to go from the undamaged part of Insula to the Lake One exit makes for a pretty long day.

So the actual question here is if anyone has been on Hudson or Insula and can tell me what the campsite conditions are like now in Hudson and the south part of Insula.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Mitch

The trees in the burn area have grown to about 15' tall now, but still don't provide to much shade. The channel out the north end of Hudson has some campsites on the way to Fire that are not in the burn area. Fire is a nice secluded lake with only a couple campsites. The campsites in the south end of Insula are usable, but not in the best shape. If I were coming through that area and didn't want to paddle all the way from Insula to the entry point 30, I would try to find camp in the north channel of Hudson, Fire Lake or north end of Lake Four.

I was through there during Covid and echo what wfc said. We were a group of 4 and camped on the east end of Fire and the camp was adequate but not very nice. Someone was camped on the central spot on the north shore and it looked better from what we could see. We passed by the two on the west end and couldn't identify either one of them. YMMV

I trip through that area every year and find it fascinating to see how the forest is changing, going from jack pines dying from old age and scrubby aspen and firs to a new forest of primarily jack pine. Jack pine forests are the first step in recovery as red and white pines can grow under their canopy as the jack pines mature.

As mentioned, there are campsites on the north arm and west arm that have mature jack pine. If you start from Insula fairly early in the morning, the sites on Lake Four are often open and there are more yet on Lake 3. As we travel through this area in the early afternoon, there are plenty of open sites. By late afternoon or evening, most of them may be full.