Houchin Ferry Picnic Area

Houchin Ferry Picnic Area is a wooded day-use spot on the Green River’s south bank, with picnic tables, benches, grills and a covered shelter. It works for an easy riverside meal or as a launch for a canoe or kayak. The overnight campground is right next door but is a separate place, so keep its campsites and camper facilities separate from this stop. There is no active ferry here, so this isn’t a river crossing.

Bring your own meal; there’s no food service. The picnic area has potable water and portable toilets, plus a covered shelter with a fireplace and charcoal grills. Park rules allow camp stoves and self-contained charcoal grills; fires are allowed only in park-provided grills. There are no designated hiking trails here, so come for the picnic and river access rather than a walk in the woods.

The Houchin Ferry to Brownsville paddle is 3.6 miles and usually takes 1.5 to 2 hours, ending near the former Lock and Dam No. 6 site or at Brownsville’s boat ramp. It’s considered flat water, but the current can still run swiftly, with submerged trees, rocks, drifting debris and logjams as hazards. The park recommends prior paddling experience and lists the outing for summer.

Houchin Ferry once connected Brownsville directly with northeastern Edmonson County. The vehicle ferry was put out of service in 2013. After Lock and Dam No. 6 was breached in 2016 and later removed, river levels fell by 8 to 10 feet and the crossing was no longer reliable. The landing remains a useful picnic and boat-access stop, but the ferry itself is part of the area’s history.