Houchin Ferry Campground

This is a small, tent-only campground along the Green River. It's fairly secluded. There's no running water, but pit toilets are available. Each site has a concrete picnic table and a small fire pit with a cooking grate. There is no onsite staff. Bring your own firewood. You must reserve these sites online (or possibly by phone).

This is not a frilly/glamping sort of place. I get the impression this campground is mostly used by through hikers, backpackers and folks canoeing or kayaking down the Green River and utilizing the portage at the old ferry site. That said, here are the pros and cons.

Pros: it is surrounded by nature and even though the town of Brownsville is a 3 minute drive out of the park, you can’t hear the through traffic and it doesn’t feel like you’re in or near town.

The camp sites all have a concrete picnic table that is a good size, and it’s nicer than wooden ones that tend to get grimy and all funky.

The camp ring is well maintained and big enough to maintain a good fire.

The spots are mostly flat, with a little bit of looking for the best spot on each site.

Each site has a view of the river even if it isn’t river front.

The property is well maintained, not a bunch of trash or debris.

Port o potties were cleaned on our third day there.

There are water spigots.

Now, the cons:

Each fire ring has a cook grate and that’s all well and good except they are at a severe angle and without a bit of manipulation, your food will either roll off, fall in between the wide bars or cook very unevenly, this was a huge con for me as I love cooking when I camp. Also, where they’re set up would make it difficult to sit around them if there are more than 2-3 chairs

There’s no way to easily fish at this spot, the banks are very elevated and it would take more effort than I was willing to put in.

The spots are small. You’re very close to your neighbors. You can hear their conversations even if they talk at a normal tone.

Overall, we were happy with our experience here. We enjoyed being by the river, it was private, the campground wasn’t full when we were visiting. We made use of the amenities, and appreciated the portable toilets were cleaned by the end of our trip. We would recommend this overall, just manage your expectations when it comes to space, shade, river access and the cooking abilities.

There is no playground, but there is a very nice picnic pavilion.

This is a primitive campground and used to be a popular picnic spot. We used to fish off the end of the ferry after it closed for the night. However, since the removal of the lock and dam downstream, the water level has fallen an average of 12 feet, leaving only a trickle that probably isn’t deep enough for a fish to swim in! The road across the river has disappeared into the wilderness with just the ramp still showing. Even the streetlights have been turned off making it pitch black at night. The tightly packed sites are okay if you don’t mind being a few feet from your neighbor. Each site had a pure pit with grill grate, a concrete picnic table, a lantern hook, and a camp stove table. There is a potable water tap on site. No host is in attendance nowadays. It’s all rather sad to see the decay. The pit toilets were filthy with excrement almost reaching the seats. I can’t understand why the fee is $20 still since the National Park Service obviously doesn’t take serious care of the place or at least not on the weekend I most recently stayed there. . That all being said, despite the close proximity of the sites, it is still a beautiful place to relax. At night, the once quiet river is now a babbling brook.

We camped for 5 days during July 4th week here.
Very peaceful.
Had a rain storm come through(we were prepared)
We plan on visiting again.
Pota Johns were cleaned while we were there. There is a water spicket, to refill the water containers.
Shower houses are about 10min away.

While cheaper than other campsites, you tend to get what you pay for. As others mention, the sites are smaller than I expected. You can hear EVERYTHING happening in sites. There is not a camp host on site and during our stay, quiet hours were completely ignored. Be prepared to be on top of others, have people walking thru your site, and to hear people late at night. If you camp to get away from it all or are a light sleeper, this is not the place for you on a weekend in the summer. However the rest is as advertised, enough room for a tent, a picnic table, fire ring with bbq grate, and porta potties that did have toilet paper and hand sanitizer. No shade and one dumpster for garbage. About 15 minute drive to Mammoth National Park Visitor Center.

Campsites are pretty close so although it's small you don't have a lot of space. #10 is pretty good. 7 & 8 have best river view. Spaces are level with picnic table and a fire pit. No wood to harvest, so recommend bringing it. Some road noise in the morning... I'd check the campground by the visitor center next time, it was pretty empty mid week.

The area is beautiful but no privacy between campsites at all. It ended up not being terrible for our stay because the campsites were not all filled. There's shade for most of the campsites and the bathrooms are permanent porta potty's....so pretty gross. These sites are right next to the river so it's neat to watch the water but it's too dirty to play in. Luckily we only booked 2 nights here before we go to the main mammoth cave campsites. Hopefully the pictures help.

Nice area not to far from Mammoth Cave and trails. Campsites are close together, so get to know your neighbors. Porta potties are clean.