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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Trip Planning Forum Buck to Pine |
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02/28/2017 10:49AM (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Does anyone have any knowledge about the stream that connects Buck Lake to Pine Lake? We will most likely be staying on Trout, but I'd like to take a day trip to Buck. I was wondering how easy it'd be to portage into Chad, then portage into Buck, then take, what looks like on the maps, the stream into Pine to be able to hit up Pine for some fishing as well.
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02/28/2017 11:31AM
I've did it once roughly 15 years ago. If you want a adventure, this would certainly qualify. Water levels were good when we did it, and we still had to walk the canoes most of the time. Lots of beaver dams, and down trees to overcome. Take a couple good size saws, some of the down trees were a good 12" diameter. I think it took 6 or 7 hours to do it, but I honestly don't remember for sure. Pretty buggy area if I remember right. When we did it the black flies were pretty terrible. That being said, it was a wild , pretty scenic area. Would I do it again???? NO WAY....LOL
02/28/2017 11:40AM
quote walllee: "I've did it once roughly 15 years ago. If you want a adventure, this would certainly qualify. Water levels were good when we did it, and we still had to walk the canoes most of the time. Lots of beaver dams, and down trees to overcome. Take a couple good size saws, some of the down trees were a good 12" diameter. I think it took 6 or 7 hours to do it, but I honestly don't remember for sure. Pretty buggy area if I remember right. When we did it the black flies were pretty terrible. That being said, it was a wild , pretty scenic area. Would I do it again???? NO WAY....LOL"
Haha, good to know. We've done the stream from Trout into Pine and that is a wonderful scenic route, which sounds like the exact opposite of that stream! I'll have to keep that in mind while planning our day trips!
02/28/2017 12:35PM
yep, Buck Creek is nothing like Pine Creek. The same trip I did Buck Creek, we entered Chad From LIS south entry. Went down to Bootleg, then down to Little Pony to Chad Creek. Chad Creek ended about a 1/2 mil from Chad Lake. We could see Chad, just no more water to get to it!! We had a lightning storm as we were stuck in the marsh. I told my uncle to hunker down and not stand up, as he would of been the tallest thing in the marsh. He then proceeded to stand up and wave his arms, he said he wanted to be put out of his misery!!! LOL.... great trip, great memory. He's 83 years old, and still talks about Chad Creek.
02/28/2017 02:51PM
Wallee - Glad to hear someone else has experienced Chad Creek! I would never want to go through that again. I actually just did a trip report to that area- Detour to Chad
02/28/2017 03:01PM
quote Aldy1: "Wallee - Glad to hear someone else has experienced Chad Creek! I would never want to go through that again. I actually just did a trip report to that area- Detour to Chad "Wow!!!! Brings back some memories!!
03/01/2017 08:25PM
I have done multiple trips through Buck Creek. It's an adventure but possible. Lots of down trees and rapids closer to Buck Lake. Once you get past that, narrow corners and beaver dams slow you down. My last trip through there was a daytrip loop from Pine > Glenmore Creek > Glenmore Lake > Western > Buck > Buck Creek > Pine. Glenmore Creek is a joke as it get quite narrow and has a few woods / blowdown areas you have to bushwhack around. We had decent walleye fishing on both Glenmore and Western lakes. In fact, we "lost track of time" while fishing and ran out of daylight over Memorial Weekend. My brother (the Adventure Robot) and I paddled by the last campsite on Buck and the guys there said it was 8:30pm. The sun was already below the trees. We paddled most of Buck Creek in the dark and made it back to the island campsite on Pine by 10:30pm... so it's possible to grind it out in 2 hours. We were both very scratched up and covered in mosquito bites when we got back. My Discovery 174 also has plenty of battle scars from being dragged over rocks in the dark. I'm happy we did the loop once...
03/02/2017 10:15AM
Never done Buck Creek but we daytripped out of Pine, through Pine Creek into Buck, Western, and Glenmore for some walleye fishing a number of years ago. Toward the end of the day we decided that taking the "shortcut" down Glenmore Creek back to Pine would be faster than backtracking. This was a miscalculation. We had to bushwhack for a couple of hundred yards just to get to any canoeable water in the creek and from there is was barely wide enough for the canoe in most parts with nowhere to really get out to line it along. We had to have one guy kneel in the center and pull the canoe along by the grasses on the banks. Much of the time was also spent chest deep in the muck, pushing it through. Many beaver dams later, it finally widens enough to paddle more but the turns are too tight to stay in the canoe for long. By the time we reached the lone tall pine tree marking the entrance to Pine Lake, it was getting dark. We reached camp, jumped in the lake to wash off, picked off a bunch of ticks, and went into the tent. Like the above poster said, in retrospect, happy to have done it once but definitely not the route of choice into those lakes.
03/05/2017 10:26AM
We are going up to Buck in early June, and have decided that we will probably try to navigate Buck creek. I have read the stories on long journeys through here, but also get that feeling like they don't regret doing it, either. I figure the worst that could happen, is that it takes a while to get to Buck Lake, but we have an adventure on the way. Best case, we cruise (not literally) on up to Buck Lake in record time. Looking at the maps section, it looks like you could bushwack into Buck Lake when the creek takes a sharp turn south right before Buck Lake. Thoughts?
03/05/2017 10:58AM
If I recall correctly, that's where Buck Creek gets the most challenging (small rapids, log jams, overgrown brush). I have bushwhacked that section before without a canoe but never with. I don't remember anything that resembles a portage trail. You would be better off pulling the canoe through the water than bushwhacking. Bring light up bobbers for out front from the mid-lake campsite where it gets narrow. We have had success doing this while sitting at the fire at night. If you get desperate for a fish fry and are sticking out on Buck, We have always found eater sized walleye on Western using cranks, #3 mepps or a jig/minnow.
03/05/2017 11:07AM
quote bunker3: "Does anyone have any knowledge about the stream that connects Buck Lake to Pine Lake? We will most likely be staying on Trout, but I'd like to take a day trip to Buck. I was wondering how easy it'd be to portage into Chad, then portage into Buck, then take, what looks like on the maps, the stream into Pine to be able to hit up Pine for some fishing as well."
Getting back to the original question, there was a Hoover dam style beaver dam just before we got to Chad from Pine Creek. It was taller than me and quite long. Fishing on Chad was slow. We caught largemouth and there supposedly aren't any walleye in there. Early in the season, the portage from Chad to Buck is subject to flooding. We've had to paddle through part of the portage a number of years ago. We also lost the trail on the other side of the water. Once we found it again, there werent any further problems.
03/06/2017 02:33PM
The huge beaver damn going into Chad lake is a sight to see. I went to Buck last year and I'd say you're better off going through Chad lake than going up the Buck creek. The portage to Buck from Chad is about identical to the portage from Pine creek to Chad, in terms of length and difficulty.
Also - there are Walleye on Chad despite what some say.
Good luck!
Also - there are Walleye on Chad despite what some say.
Good luck!
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