Green River ★5.0

How to Get There

From Cave City (10 mi): Take KY-70 west toward Mammoth Cave National Park, follow park signs to Green River Ferry Road, and continue to the river access and ferry area.

Overview

The Green River is a 384-mile-long (618 km) tributary of the Ohio River that rises in Lincoln County in south central Kentucky. The river was named after Nathanael Greene, a general of the American Revolutionary War.

In 1901, two additional locks and dams were opened on the Green River, which allowed river traffic to Mammoth Cave. In 1941, Mammoth Cave National Park was established, and the two upper locks and dams closed in 1950.

The Green River flows through Mammoth Cave National Park, located along river miles 188 to 210. The river drains the cave and controls the master base level of the Mammoth Cave system: the construction of a 9-foot (2.7 m) dam at Brownsville in 1906 raised the water level in some parts of the cave system by as much as 6 feet (1.8 m) above its natural value. The heightened level of Green River probably kept the connection of Mammoth Cave and the nearby Flint Ridge Cave system underwater until a drought partially exposed it and made connection a reality, increasing the length of Mammoth Cave to over 360 miles in length.

Green River is now free-flowing throughout Mammoth Cave National Park though water levels are impacted by releases from Green River Lake upstream. This has allowed for increased canoeing and kayaking opportunities from Nolin Dam to Brownsville, and has added more land to the National Park on the west bank of Green River. The 2022 removal of Lock and Dam #5 near Reedyville will allow more opportunities for canoeing and kayaking along the river from Mammoth Cave to Rochester.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Green River (Kentucky)" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0