The Green River, Our Kentucky Stand By!

The Green River, Our Kentucky Stand By!

We have canoed the Green River for over 15 years and it is our “go to” river for taking beginners and for having a good time. There are not many rivers in Kentucky that you can canoe year round.   Over the years we find more and more people have discovered it as well.  We went the first weekend of November this year, which ended up being an incredibly warm weekend with the autumn colors still present.  Most of the rock bluffs are usually hidden by the vegetation.  At this time, with most of the leaves on the ground and the cliffs visible, the views were more multidimensional.

From Dennison Ferry (just past mile marker 205) to Houchin Ferry (just before mile marker 186), a distance of 19 miles, the Green River flows through Mammoth Cave National Park.  Canoeing is entirely within the National Park boundaries.  Before starting the trip we picked up a Back Country Use Permit and map at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center.   The permit allows us to camp wherever we want along the river.  The map is more helpful than a few other maps that we downloaded.

Putting in at Dennison Ferry is steep but they have placed a couple of canoe ramps to help lower the canoe down to the river.  Once by the river the concrete pad gives easy entry into the canoe.  We didn’t put in until 12:00 because of the long shuttle to Houchins Ferry.  The river in this section is slow with just a few ripples to let us know that “Yes, it actually is moving.”  Even though the water levels were low at this time of the year, we didn’t scrape bottom very often and were impressed that the river was very clean and we could see down to the pebbly bottom.  We were in Mammoth Cave National Park, so as expected, we floated past several caves.

 We took a break at Green River Ferry boat ramp, and visited the port-o-potties, took a short hike to Echo Spring and watched the ferry handling a constant traffic of cars.  It could only manage 3 cars at once.

Once we left the Green River Ferry boat ramp (a little before the 197 mile marker), we felt a bit rushed to make it to a good campsite.  The banks are generally steep so the best camping is usually found on islands and sand bars.  Once leaving the ferry, we were on a constant vigilance to find a camping spot. For three miles, there was really nothing possible for camping.  We took the first possible campsite we found on Sand Cave Island, 1/3 mile past Mile Marker 194.  At the point of the island there is an enormous log jam that is bigger than a house reaching high into the sky.  We pitched our tents and even finished eating before nightfall.

The next morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast that included sightings of a Bald Eagle with two immatures near a nesting area.  Starting the day with the fog clinging low to the river, we followed the Bald Eagles down the river.  We need to say that along the river there is plenty of wildlife.  Two 8 point bucks on different sides of the river just lazily looked at us, while the does were moving through the bush to stay hidden.  One doe we saw was crossing the river in front of us, swimming with her two ears visible sticking up looking like ducks swimming.  Turkey made their presence known, as well as pileated woodpeckers and kingfishers.  It was difficult to get close to the wood ducks, but we kept scaring them up.  We forgot to mention the many mussel shells we saw on the islands and at the bottom of the river.  The Green River is home to more species of freshwater mussels than any other river in North America.  The live mussels and their shells are protected!  Collecting is strictly prohibited.

We canoed down the river only a mile and “discovered” Sand Cave on the left.  It is right after Turnhole Spring.  I don’t think we could have canoed further the previous day to reach Sand Cave, but this is really THE ideal place for camping.  Deep sand, smothered in leaves, under a large overhang of a cave.  A spring sits in a crevice under the overhang.  We are already making plans to take our grandkids back to camp here.  Canoeing this part of the river feels like there is no current at all.  It is easy to canoe upstream.  We passed Boardcut Island which would also make a good camping spot.

Lunch was at Crump Island and we noted its possibilities for camping.  By early afternoon we had reached Houchin Ferry.  It was an easy 4 hour float.  There is a campground there with port-a-potties, picnic tables and fire rings.

The Green River is peaceful and navigable throughout the year for all levels of paddling expertise.  It offers an easy get-away providing beautiful scenery, frequent wildlife sightings, caves to explore and an all-around positive opportunity for getting your ‘nature’ fix.  Come canoe the Green!