Ideas for getting a dog to not fear getting dried off before coming into the house?

Seems like there are two associations you need to tackle: coming back from creek = towelling and towelling = bad.

Try changing up the routine... take her to the creek, then go for a long walk so she can air dry.

Have you tried changing the place where you dry her (dry her outside rather than inside)? Or leaving the towel next to the door when you aren't going to dry her (to disassociate the negative feelings she has for the towel)?

Once you can get her to come back inside without problem, you just need to find a way to train her to enjoy (or at least tolerate) the towelling. How does she she react if you just try to towel her when she's dry?

My dog used to hate this, too, but we were able to turn it into a game, a playful kind of towelling off, and now he loves it. Two suggestions: rather than chastise her (if you do) when she's resisting the towelling, use your playful voice and encourage her to rub into the towel; also, introduce the towel into your play time when she's not wet and doesn't actually need towelling off. You can use the towel to rub her belly and help her understand it's a part of fun time. This is what worked for me.

If the dog is still afraid at playtime you could first use a washcloth and gradually go up in size to a hand towel before incorporating a real towel into playtime. Other then that Angelina is right on.