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Campsite 5
Put In - Located on US Highway 58, 8 miles east of Clarksville. From Raleigh, Rudds Creek Park is a nice drive up Highway 50 to Creedmoor and then take 15 north through Oxford to Clarksville. Before Clarksville proper is a new bridge over the lake to Highway 58 East. This is the fast way, if you go into Clarksville, then you can visit the town and then take the old bridge over the lake to Highway 58 East.
Distance/Time - 3 trips. 1st trip - noon up Rudds Creek, 6.9 miles. Evening trip to watch the sunset, 2.9 miles. 3rd trip - 7.8 miles up Butcher Creek, Sunday morning. I was in Campsite 5 which ended up being quite noisy because of its proximity to Highway 58. Try to get a campsite near 21, as this is on the other side of the spur and the noise should be much lower.
Difficulty - Average.
Trip Directions - First time camping at Rudds Creek Park. The lake level was at 305 feet, which is 5 feet above normal pool. Sunset was at 7:52pm. The Rudds Creek trip ended at Highway 688 bridge as the water was so high. I contemplated portaging around the bridge, however, a fisherman said it was a good two miles paddle from here and I was tired. Will try this on the next trip. Did see a set of hunting dogs that were being called in from a night out looking for fox. Each dog had a transmitter around their neck so they could be tracked. The dogs looked beat. The Sunday trip was up Butcher Creek and the most interesting part was the old train trestle concrete supports. The old tracks have been removed and this trail crossed both Rudds Creek, Wall Branch Creek, and Butcher Creek. Next trip I will do Wall Branch Creek.
Hazards - High water.
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Campsite 5