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Put In -
Located on US Highway 58, 8
miles east of Clarksville, VA.
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.
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Distance/Time - 3 trips. 1st trip - noon up Tates Creek, 8.2 miles. Evening trip to watch the sunset,
3.8 miles. 3rd trip -
6.4 miles up Wall Branch Creek, Saturday morning. I was in Campsite 50 which
was just perfect, away from the road noise of Highway 58 and on a nice cove to
access the lake. At lower water levels this might be high and dry.
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Difficulty - Average.
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Trip Directions - Second time camping at Rudds Creek Park. The lake level
was at 305.9 feet, which is 5 feet above normal pool. Sunset was at 7:36pm. The
Saturday
trip was up Wall Branch Creek and the most interesting part was the old train
trestle concrete supports that I hiked to. The old tracks have been removed and this
trail crossed both Rudds Creek, Wall Branch Creek, and Butcher Creek. On
Friday I did Tates Creek and ran into a beaver that let me take pictures of
him as he cruised around. When the dog finally got sight of the beaver
and started making a ruckus, the beaver slapped its tail and disappeared.
The area is also heavily logged as the wildlife management areas have been
stripped. I assume it is for a reason to start over on this land.
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Hazards -
High water.
