Class II West Fork Drakes Creek, KY

Blue Water Trail (Franklin Simpson Park Access to KY 622 Access)

Study of the Kentucky border in Simpson County reveals a funny-looking half triangle just south of Franklin. A surveying party in the fall of 1780 used a marked beech tree along the West Fork of Drakes Creek as a point of reference, but wandered decidedly off course to the south. Dr. Thomas Walker, commissioned to draw the boundary between the far western sections of North Carolina and Virginia before the creation of Kentucky and Tennessee, discovered the error. The surveyors simply worked back north to the original line rather than correct the mistake. The survey team marked a blackjack oak at the apex of this jog. The border anomaly is still called “Blackjack Corner.” The West Fork of Drakes Creek drains Blackjack Corner and a good portion of Simpson County. It offers excellent fishing for smallmouth, largemouth and rock bass along with populations of bluegill and even some muskellunge. Fisheries biologists for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources report seeing smallmouth up to 18 inches during population sampling in the creek and believe larger individuals inhabit this water. The Warren County Blueways website at www.trailsrus.com/blueways provides information on floating the streams of the Drakes Creek system. Brown metal markers at the put-in and take-out locations correspond with the map provided on the website as well as the map that accompanies this article. (KYFWR)

Section Details

Trip Length One Night, 24.2 Miles
Fishing Yes
Camping No
Manager State, Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources
Wild & Scenic No
Water Trail Yes
Partner Information http://fw.ky.gov/Education/Pages/West-Fork-of-Drakes-Creek.aspx
https://fw.ky.gov/Education/Pages/Blue-Water-Trails.aspx