A man was hiking in rural Tennessee when he made a discovery that he will never forget.
George Wear, 28, is from Dallas, Texas, and enjoys getting out in nature to explore. Now, one discovery he made while hiking in Tennessee has gone viral, as he showcased what he found when he came across what he first thought was a “hole made by an animal.”
Wear told Newsweek he was hiking by a natural cascade when he spotted the hole, and upon examination, believed it “went down about six feet, but looked like it had a small cave to explore.”
“I happen to have a headlamp and flashlight on me, because I expect to be hiking into the night,” Wear said—and so he dropped down into the hole to see what he might find.
And his discovery has now gone viral, after he showcased the cave in a video to his Instagram account, @wears_george, on December 29, which has more than 53,000 likes.
Wear told Newsweek: “When I pushed past the initial entrance of the cave, I was excited to see there was a huge cavern to start exploring and the sound of rushing water. I was stoked, because it felt like this may be one of those caves that very few people had been in, and I was excited to see something rare.”
His video shows the initial small hole, followed by what it looked like when he jumped inside. From stalagmites and stalactites to an underground river and waterfall, the cave opens up into an enormous cavern, the sound of rushing water deafening from all around. “Boys year for the mines,” Wear joked in a caption.
Instagram users had a massive reaction, with one calling it “awesome,” another admitting they were “jealous,” and a third writing: “If you get lost, mine straight up.”
Wear said his “mind was blown,” as he explored for about 90 minutes underground, where he found “massive rooms and multiple waterfalls.”
“I assume it must connect to a well-mapped cave system that has other entrances based on the size alone,” he added. “Either way, [it] was a great adventure to be found from a 4-foot diameter hole in the ground by a tree.”
Major underground cave systems exist just under the surface in the United States, and continue to grow bigger as more are discovered.
The National Park Service says that national parks in the United States are growing because more passages keep being discovered, including at Jewel Cave and Wind Cave in South Dakota, and Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico.
The longest cave on Earth is Mammoth Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which is more than 400 miles in length, and has grown by the connection of smaller nearby caves.
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