12th Stop - The Lost Sea Adventure (TN)

Blog Post #19 - Written June 15, 2025

Stay: May 28-30, 2025

Our next stop was at the Toqua RV Campground on the Little Tennessee River (outside of Vonore, TN, which is outside of Knoxville), which might've been the most scenic, beautiful campground we've stayed at. It was so peaceful and the "river" was more like a huge lake with gorgeous wooded hills. We arrived in time to quickly change into swimsuits and run over to the beach :)   The weather forecast also predicted a bunch of rain, so we wanted to soak in the sun while we could.

The next day, after some work and school, I took the boys back to the beach so we could blow up the kayaks and take them out. By the time I finished getting both kayaks ready, the boys had had their fill of playing in the water and gone back to the trailer and D was still sleeping. Thankfully, my adventure buddy Z rode back over to go out with me. Q and D weren't feeling well and stayed with Megan in the trailer. Probably a good thing since it started pouring as soon as we shoved off! Z had an incredible attitude and we laughed our way through the rain and ended up kayaking around and exploring the river edges and tributaries for over 2 hours. 

I could see the storm cloud rolling in as we packed up the kayak. And sure enough, it hit us right as we left shore.

Z asked if we could get out at this shallow rocky place. I love his adventurous spirit :)

I just love these inlets, hills and valleys, and tributaries. Next time we're going to explore them on a jet ski :)

Snack time at the hidden beach! Z might've asked for it, but I was more than happy to oblige. 2 hours of kayaking burns a lot of calories!

Megan was then sick the next morning and we had to reschedule our non-refundable cave tour, praying she'd feel better later...she did and we were able to catch an afternoon tour of this awesome cavern with the largest underground lake in the United States! It was a pretty sweet cave and seeing that huge lake in a cave was just crazy. So cool. They stocked it with rainbow trout years ago, hoping the fish would swim out the outlet so they could discover where it lets out, but the fish decided to stay and they've kept them as mascots ever since. These fish are just massive, they live a lot longer than wild trout and grow to incredible size (up to 16 lbs!).

*Please forgive the poor quality of pictures...it's really difficult to take nice pics in a dark cave!

They blasted through a couple hundred feet of rock to create this tunnel entrance. Not super "environmentally friendly"...but much quicker and more convenient than the entrance to our Mammoth Cave tour haha.  And cave bacon, of course, because everyone loves bacon!

Z checking out the doomsday supplies. Apparently the cave was a designated fallout shelter during the Cold War, and stockpiled with supplies and water. The history of the cave is actually pretty interesting, it's been used as a gathering place by the Cherokee, a saltpeter mine by the Confederate Army, and a dance hall (they literally installed a dance floor in the cave haha) and moonshine hideout during Prohibition.   Also, the 2nd pic shows a tiny waterfall the the crystal clear pool beneath it.

We've toured quite a few caves now, and this pool with a built-up stalagmite-esque wall in the shape of a dinosaur's footprint, is one of the coolest things I've seen.

*PS - I almost forgot to mention the funniest part of our underground boat ride: Q ran up to me after we got off the boat, holding his crotch and whimpering that he had to pee right now. Since the hike back to the surface was 20 minutes and they had no bathrooms down there, one of the tour guides said he could go behind a fence in their maintenance area and pee in a bottle if needed 😂  Made me wonder how many times they had had to do the same thing haha.  

Creature Feature: Our 2nd night there, something chewed up Q's bike helmet during the night. I figured it was someone's dog or raccoon or something, but didn't think much of it and we just gave him Megan's helmet to use. The next night, we hadn't learned our lesson and had left the bikes and helmets out again, and in the morning both Megan's and D's helmets were gone. The kids looked all around and only found D's helmet...or what was left of it. The varmint that took it tore it apart! Q was so sad to lose a 2nd helmet in as many days, while I was mad that D's sweet Taekwondo head gear helmet (best kind of kid's helmet btw, 360 degree padded protection) that all 3 of our kids had used, was no more.

Neat Person Spotlight: While out with the kids, I met a sweet little old lady (probably in her 80s-90s) named Carol. Carol had traveled the world in her younger days with her husband, but he had passed away several years ago and her hearing and sight weren't very good anymore; she wasn't allowed to drive. But did she let that stop her? NO! She recruited a friend to tow her trailer around so she could go camping with her friends and family! What an incredible inspiration. Carol's advice was to (a) enjoy the journey, and (b) go journey while you're young and fit and able to experience it fully.