The Lost Sea, Sweetwater, Tennessee

We drove up and down I-75 many times as we headed south and north. We always just drove by The Lost Sea and said that it was something we wanted to see. But, we were always in a hurry to get where we were going, so of course, never stopped. This year we were at Raccoon Valley RV Park, just north of Knoxville. This was the closest we have ever been to The Lost Sea so I asked Jim if he wanted to go, and we decided to see it. The day we were scheduled to go dawned crisp and sunny, so it was a good drive down I-75. We got there about 1/2 hour earlier than our scheduled time, so we sat along with the others scheduled for the 2pm tour, and waited for our guide. That was the only time Jim enjoyed being here.

As soon as we walked into the cavern, he started panicking. This was because of his eye issue; he had a retinal detachment on Thanksgiving Day 2022, and it did not heal properly. He has 20/30 vision, but he sees things 30% smaller in the injured eye than his good eye, which causes him to get vertigo very easily. The cavern walk was dark and he had a very hard time seeing. Good thing I had my good flashlight to shine in front of him. But he did not like the walk at all since it was so hard to see, and he held onto me, but sweated and panted throughout the entire tour.

Craighead Caverns is an extensive cave system located in between Sweetwater and Madisonville, Tennessee. It is best known for containing the United States' largest and the world's second largest non-subglacial underground lake, The Lost Sea. In addition to the lake, the caverns contain an abundance of crystal clusters called anthodites, stalactites, stalagmites, and a waterfall.

The lake was discovered in 1905 by a thirteen-year-old boy named Ben Sands. He was said to often play in the cave and, when he happened upon a small opening, crawled through. The room was so large he was unable to see the ends of the space with his lantern, so he threw balls of mud in all directions and heard splashes. When he went back home and told people of his discovery, they were hesitant to believe him. By the time Ben convinced his father to go back down with him to explore further, the water level had risen, hiding the cave entrance from them. It was rediscovered several years later by local explorers.

There were lots of things to see on our walk, but much of it was hard to see. It was very dark and some of the pictures I took did not come out good. These are some of the pictures I took on our way down to the lake.

Notice the date? -- 1877

The "In-Law" Hole

The visible surface of the lake measures 800 feet long and 220 feet wide (4.5 acres) at normal "full" capacity. Cave divers have explored several rooms that are completely filled with water, without reaching the end of the cave. This exploration was conducted in the 1970s.

For many years The Lost Sea was considered the world's largest underground lake; it is the largest in the United States and is still recognized as the world's second-largest, non-subglacial underground lake, after Dragon's Breath Cave, in Namibia.

An original still

Commercial boat tours of the lake are given and for many people are the highlight of the cave tour. In times of extreme drought (such as 2007-08), the lake recedes significantly. Tour management had to extend the walkway and the boat dock in order to continue the boat tours. At the height of the drought, management of the Lost Sea said that the water level in the lake dropped 28 feet below its normal level. At such times visitors see a much larger cavern above the lake surface.

The room near the lake

The fish of The Lost Sea

The fish were actually put in the sea. They have lost a lot of their color and eyesight. However, they are fed every time a tour goes out onto the lake, so they are well fed.

The trail out

Bear's Paw

Ye Old Wishing Well