Houchins Ferry Campground

So we stumbled on to Mammoth Caves National Park while driving from Lexington, KY to Nashville (don't also miss a stop in Bardstown at the distilleries) and, after a cool cave tour, were told that Houchins Ferry was the only NPS CG open at that time of year (early Feb). Only then did we read the description which warned that it "could not accommodate larger RV's or trailers."

Well, in fact, the only discouraging elements were a limited number of sites (maybe 12?) and a very steep descent road into the CG. Not *crazy,* just seriously steep. At the bottom is a tight little loop with 6-8 sites right on the Green River (all available except one at that time of year), but several that would fit our 25' AS plus tow rig (hitched we're 46').

At other times of the year, the other CG's might be closer but consider this a good option!

Loved the site, 12 spots just big enough for a class C or perhaps a midsize vehicle and a small trailer. Bench, fire pit and what looks like a cooking station and lamp hook available at each site. You could probably glean the area for firewood but it might be best to pick up a pile from a local that is selling it. There is a pavillian with a double fireplace available to be reserved and there are two grill at the far end. Water is available, as well as port-a-pottys, no shower/bathing facilities though. The ferry is not working.

Got a bit sidetracked, using postal code to get there!🤷‍♀️ Loved it here!! Can’t fill my RV with water as I couldn’t figure out the fixtures. Still a wonderful, peaceful experience!

The campsite was clean and luckily for us some earlier visitors left their extra wood. So we did the same in return. Open year round. There is a park shed to drop your money in. There are concrete picnic tables and a fire ring at each site. The Green River is also pretty to look at. No luck with fish but it was moving and it was cold. We would be back. First come first serve at 12 spots.

My family stayed here in our 31 foot Class C RV towing a trailer with our 4Runner on it and it was a tight fit but worked just fine. If you look at the NPS website it says tents only but our site (site 10) worked just fine. It’s right on the green river and it was so quiet. There were a few tent campers on Saturday night, one tent camper Monday night but they must have left in the middle of the night. So we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves. Saw the ranger cleaning up fire pits and the porta potties, a few cars drive down and back up the road but that’s it. It’s about a 20 minute drive, maybe less, to the Mammoth Cave visitors center.
If you’re in an RV I’d recommend scouting it out first to see which site you can fit in. But as I mentioned, we have a 32 foot class C, our 20 foot trailer and a 4Runner and we fit in site 10. We backed the trailer in, backed in the RV, and parked the 4Runner in front diagonally. This would be the only site to fit all this. Would definitely come back.
Verizon hot spot works well enough to work and do zoom calls, probably wouldn’t turn on video. I have T-mobile phone and it’s not too bad, can sometimes FaceTime family and websites load slow but it works.

Pulled up on a rainy day and noticed they are storing extra picnic tables in the parking lot, there are 6 porta pots for toilets and a group shelter. All the sites are VERY close. You have to leave the park to get to the campground and it just seems like an afterthought. Its not well maintained (our campsite 2, advertised waterfront, but weeds and things were so overgrown you cant see or access water). People would drive down and use the port a potties and hang out at the group shelter then leave, which made us feel uncomfortable bc this is a dead end street and no reason for non campers to be down here. We ended up leaving and staying somewhere else.

The sites are small. It is advertised at tent only but a small trailer 15' or a smaller Van/RV would fit in on most of the sites. I made a mistake on my reservation at a different park and this one had a place I could stay.for 1 night. The campsite is down a long steep and twisty road. It is quiet assuming your neighbors are quiet. Half of the sites are right on the Green River which is nice.