The Lost Sea: Underground Lake in Tennesee

Earlier this year, my husband came across an advertisement for the Lost Sea Underground lake and caverns while on his phone. He mentioned it to me as a possible destination and after realizing it was only 2 hours from home, I decided it would be fun to visit during a school break. It is located 140 inside a mountain in East Tennessee and includes large caverns and an underground body of water known as the Lost Sea. It is listed in the World Guinness book of records as the largest US underground lake. During our tour we also learned of another cavern of an unknown size that is completely submerged in water.

The cave system is part of a cave system called Craighead Caverns, but this particular site is privately owned. Compared to other caverns we have visited in Tennessee, this one didn’t boast as many stalagtites and stalagmites formations but it kept our attentions with its very large caverns and other interesting features. The cavern was used at one point by the Cherokee and at was also planned to be used as a bunker.

The visible portion of the lake is 800 feet long by 220 feet and a boat takes visitors on a short ride on the lake. Its depth was measured at 70 ft deep at its deepest. It is stocked with large rainbow trouts which were first brought in as an experiment (in the 1970’s if I remember correctly). They are fed daily and cannot reproduce, so the lake is stocked every 4 to 5 years. The trout have lost about 20% of their sight from being in this environment.

The tour takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes and there are even overnight tours offered. We are definitely tempted to come back and try one of those: it is $50 and you bring your own sleeping bag and pad and get to go through different tunnels and caverns that are not part of the regular tour. We think it would be fun!

One of the interesting cave structure we were able to see were anthodites which are rare crystalline structures. They are spiky and light colored until they die.

A bientôt!

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