What are some lakes/sights to explore off of Lake 3? I wanted to go farther but the rest of the group out voted me. So what day trips from Lake 3 would you recommend?

If you feel like getting out of the canoe, you can hike the Pow Wow trail. It intersects the portage into Horseshoe in the SE corner of Lake 3.

Day trips without portages:

1. Lake Two has a few arms to explore, The north arm ends in a set of rapids that drain to Lake One. Do not go down these. You will find it difficult to go down and worse to come back up.
2. Lake Three has several islands on the south and southeast sides. Explore this area as it usually has less traffic than the main lake. If campsites are empty, check them out for another year's trip.
3. Lake 4 is connected and it has a long arm on the east end that goes north (narrow passage, sometimes has a different name) and extends both east and west from there.

Day trips with portaging:

1. Portage into Horseshoe and beyond as far as you have the time and energy for. Harbor lake and both North Wilder and South Wilder each are shown to have one campsite each. This will be all in the burn area and I have no knowledge of the campsites. If you have the extra time and energy, you can make your way from North Wilder to Hudson, then take the 3 portages back to Lake Four.
2. Portage from Lake Two to Rifle and on to the north arm of Lake Four, then circle back to Lake Three. This will be a good test of your portaging ability.
3. Go to the east end of Lake Four and portage into Hudson (3 shorter portages), Explore Hudson to the portage to Insula and return. You could walk the portage to Insula to see what it is like. Fishing at the end of the rapids can yield some nice fish.
4. Go to the east end of Lake Four and portage into Hudson (3 shorter portages),
Explore the north arm of Hudson. Portage into Fire lake and explore it, then take the 2 portages on the west end to get back to Lake Four.