Gardner's Creek in North Carolina

Trip Overview

We paddled Gardner's Creek near Williamston, NC, which leads on to the Roanoke River. We put in at Roberson's Marina. I think we were both surprised to see how murky and dark the water was. We had never been there before and did not know what to expect.

The marina location is kind of down over an embankment and we missed it the first time we drove by (we were on the other side of the four lane) but found it as soon as we turned around and came back. There were about six vehicles and one or two with boat trailers parked there. We did not have any problem parking the Camry pulling a trailer with our canoe.

Our paddle destination was the Beaver Lodge camping platform near Devil's Gut and at the back of Upper Deadwater Creek. We wanted to see what the platform camping was like. The site was being used so we did not paddle all the way back. It looked very interesting since we've never platform camped before.

We paddled 7.3 miles round trip and saw lots of turtles, Osprey, and a blue Heron or two. We also saw the cutest, tiny yellow birds. It was a good paddle.

Accommodations:

Platform camping available. Roberson's Marina sells bait and camping permits. They also rent canoes. 252-792-3583

Fees:

$3 boat launch fee

Directions:

From Raleigh, NC take US 64 East to Williamston

Resources:

Pick up map in the marina from Carolyn.