The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

TacomaJD · Aug 8, 2013

Any of you cats ever been there and took the tour? If you haven't, definitely put it on the bucket list if you're into that sort of stuff. I've been twice over the years, and hopefully going to go again (with new people, of course) in September on the way to a concert in Knoxville. It's supposed to be the world's largest underground lake, pretty damn badass if you ask me. I'd like to be turned loose in there to roam free, with a gun and a Mag light and do some exploring of my own.

This video sucks, but it has some decent pics that flash up throughout the vid.
Lost Sea Cave Sweetwater Tennessee

...and their official website.
http://www.thelostsea.com/index.php

GONOVRIT · Aug 9, 2013

Very cool. Went to a cool cave in PA (http://www.pennscave.com/). The "tour guide/boat captain" was an EXTREMELY NERDY college kid. He kept pointing out stalagmites that looked like different stuffed animals....to him. The whole damn boat was laughing thier asses off at him and he didn't even get it. The wife wouldn't let me push him off the boat

What concert in Knoxville? I've seen some awesome shows there :drinkers:

lowbudgetjunk · Aug 9, 2013

Go spelunking there....pretty cool

TacomaJD · Aug 9, 2013

lowbudgetjunk said:
Go spelunking there....pretty cool

I would love to go on that "wild tour" they have. Think you gotta have a big group for that though.

GONOVRIT said:
Very cool. Went to a cool cave in PA (http://www.pennscave.com/). The "tour guide/boat captain" was an EXTREMELY NERDY college kid. He kept pointing out stalagmites that looked like different stuffed animals....to him. The whole damn boat was laughing thier asses off at him and he didn't even get it. The wife wouldn't let me push him off the boat
What concert in Knoxville? I've seen some awesome shows there

Concert is City and Colour. Not many ppl know of or listen to them, but Dallas Green is one of my musician heroes. It's been on my bucket list for quite some time to see him live. This song starts out slow, but the drop in at 1:08 is awesome. I usually like heavier stuff, but Dallas's music is about my only exception.
City and Colour - Sometimes (I Wish) (Sugar Beach Session)

tbacon38 · Aug 9, 2013

I went back in High School with a bunch of friends and stayed the night in the cave, they let you do alot more exploring when you do that rather than just taking the normal tour thruough there, I thought it was pretty cool and would like to do it again someday.

bradzuki · Aug 9, 2013

I worked as a tour guide at Cumberland Caverns while I was in high school and college. We went to Lost Sea to help install some lighting and make some paths. My boss got his leg ran over by a mini-bulldozer. I loved that job. Slayed more poon during that time in my life than anything. :cougar:

Church groups were the best on the overnight tours. Guaranteed to get some.

kmcminn · Aug 9, 2013

Cathedral Caverns is a cool place to go see also.

Stuntman Autoworks · Aug 9, 2013

Thats pretty cool I've never heard of this before.

The Luke · Aug 9, 2013

Re: Re: The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

I used to deliver tobacco down there. Drove by that place hundreds of times. Always talked about stopping, never did. The Mrs. and I might have to sneak off one weekend and do that.

TacomaJD · Aug 9, 2013

bradzuki said:
I worked as a tour guide at Cumberland Caverns while I was in high school and college. We went to Lost Sea to help install some lighting and make some paths. My boss got his leg ran over by a mini-bulldozer. I loved that job. Slayed more poon during that time in my life than anything. Church groups were the best on the overnight tours. Guaranteed to get some.

HAHAHAH! YES! It always seems there's a few good whores in every church group. :****:

tbacon38 said:
I went back in High School with a bunch of friends and stayed the night in the cave, they let you do alot more exploring when you do that rather than just taking the normal tour thruough there, I thought it was pretty cool and would like to do it again someday.

That Wild Tour is definitely something on my bucket list.

The coolest thing is this excerpt from their website about the extensive underground water system there. Prolly churched up a little as a marketing effort, but cool nonetheless.

"Throughout the early history there were consistent rumors of a large underground lake somewhere deep within the cave, but it was not actually discovered until 1905. In that year a 13-year-old boy named Ben Sands wiggled through the tiny, muddy opening 300 feet underground and found himself in a huge room half filled with water. The room was so large that his light was swallowed up by the darkness long before reaching the far wall or the ceiling. For the rest of his life Sands delighted in describing how he threw mudballs as far as he could into the blackness and heard nothing but splashes in every direction

The full extent of the Lost Sea is still not known despite the efforts of teams of divers armed with modern exploration equipment. The visible portion of the lake is 800 feet long by 220 feet wide. Glass-bottomed boats powered by electric motors carry visitors onto the lake, which is stocked with some of the largest Rainbow trout in North America. Fishing, incidentally, is not permitted.

Beneath the calm waters of the four-and-a-half acre lake divers have discovered an even larger series of rooms completely filled with water. More than 13 acres of water have been mapped so far and still no end to the lake has been found. One diver ventured into the water-filled rooms with a sonar device. Hugging the wall to assure his ability to find his way back, he took soundings in all directions and found nothing but more water."

Bigrocks4x4 · Aug 9, 2013

We stopped by there one time on the way back from Tellico. It was pretty cool to see for sure. The fish in that lake are all albinos, since theyve never seen the light of day...

Neal3000 · Aug 9, 2013

We used to explore caves all the time when we were younger and more agile lol....... you should hook up with some local spelunkers if your really interested in this, there are TONS of amazing non-commercial caves all over Tn, AL and GA that you can explore. and Cave diving is a gnarly sport, SO dangerous and scary :****:

http://www.nssio.org/Find_Grotto.cfm

TacomaJD · Aug 9, 2013

Re: Re: Re: The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

Randys Rock Rods said:
We stopped by there one time on the way back from Tellico. It was pretty cool to see for sure. The fish in that lake are all albinos, since theyve never seen the light of day...

I'm not 100% sure, but I was under the impression that those fish were put there? I wouldn't think the fish would have enough food available to have naturally thrived there, beforehand. But I could be wrong lol.

Sent from my not-so-dumb phone...

Bigrocks4x4 · Aug 9, 2013

Re: Re: Re: The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

TacomaJD said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I was under the impression that those fish were put there? I wouldn't think the fish would have enough food available to have naturally thrived there, beforehand. But I could be wrong lol.

Sent from my not-so-dumb phone...

Im not positive on that either. I just remember all the fish i saw were white looking. Its been a while since we went, and i cant remember all the technical blah-blah the guide was saying ;D ;D

I wouldnt mind taking some lawn chairs and a cooler down there and do a little :fish:

tho. :****:
There's no telling whats in that lake...

TacomaJD · Aug 9, 2013

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

Randys Rock Rods said:
Im not positive on that either. I just remember all the fish i saw were white looking. Its been a while since we went, and i cant remember all the technical blah-blah the guide was saying ;D ;D

I wouldnt mind taking some lawn chairs and a cooler down there and do a little tho. :****:
There's no telling whats in that lake...

Damn right, if I ever was gonna do some diving, I'd love to do some exploring there.

Sent from my not-so-dumb phone...

offroadr1 · Aug 9, 2013

ive been getting into cave diving recently. i have talked to the guys that did the original exploration there in the 70s. its an enormous system. when they were attempting to survey, they went through only one of several passages out of the main room. they lain line for about 1400ft, but large chunks of the roof kept falling down form the percolation of the bubbles. the cave is owned by a group of lawyers now. they arent interested in anyone diving there anymore.

neat read about it here: http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?15078-Exploration-of-the-Lost-

5BrothersFabrication · Aug 9, 2013

Stubhub says cheap seats are $80!!!

TacomaJD · Aug 9, 2013

Re: Re: Re: The Lost Sea, underground lake in Sweetwater, TN

offroadr1 said:
ive been getting into cave diving recently. i have talked to the guys that did the original exploration there in the 70s. its an enormous system. when they were attempting to survey, they went through only one of several passages out of the main room. they lain line for about 1400ft, but large chunks of the roof kept falling down form the percolation of the bubbles. the cave is owned by a group of lawyers now. they arent interested in anyone diving there anymore.

neat read about it here: http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?15078-Exploration-of-the-Lost-

Damn, that would be some scary ****. The 2nd time I had went, there was an enormous rock that had fell from the ceiling of the main lake that was not there the previous time. It was so big it was jutting out of the water, I mean like the size of a crew cab dually.

5BrothersFabrication said:
Stubhub says cheap seats are $80!!!

Wtf? For the City and Colour concert? I paid $37.25 ea. after fees on Ticketmaster. Every seat in the Bijou Theater was the same price, whether it be floor or balcony seating.

Sent from my not-so-dumb phone...

offroadr1 · Aug 9, 2013

yeah i have been there a few times. the majority if the times i have gone, i couldnt get to the lake because of flooding. that system is huge for it to flood as high as is does. the water is always murky. typically in a spring fed cave with some flow the water is clear. this appears to never have a flow though. its really unique. and without permission to access we may never know how far it goes. with the new technology in diving you could have some serious pushes in there. the TAG area (TN, AL,GA) is absolutely covered up with caves. I helped out on a push at a cave in murfreesboro call snail shell last year. few thousand pounds of equipment, a half mile swim in, then 1.5 mile walk to the dive site. It was a lot of work, but even more fun. Caves are awesome!