As I paddled the Blackwater Creek, I wondered, “Why a creek, why not Blackwater River?” I asked my friend Bill. He suggested that it merely depended upon the person who named it.
So, I Googled my question, sending it out to the online universe. The answer was pretty much just that. According to the USGS, although some believe that a creek is smaller than, and must run into, a river, the term “creek” is ambiguous and has no clear meaning other than that it fits under the larger category of “a linear body of water” along with about 121 other bodies of water. So, there really is no clear, official distinction between a river and a creek. In the end, it simply does depend upon the person who names it.
Footprints and Ripples 