100 stories from the hiking route

1975 – Sopa spring is Estonia’s deepest spring

Information

Topic

People and nature

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 58.87130278

Longitude: 26.048056

L-EST 97

x: 6527583.8
y: 618125.9

Location

Ähijärve-Aegviidu Hiking route

According to official measurements, the Sopa spring is the deepest spring in Estonia. It was measured in 1975 by speleologist Ülo Heinsalu. The round six-metre diameter spring was found to be 4.8 metres deep.
Measuring the depths of springs is not easy and occasionally, abandoned poles or sticks can be found by the spring which have been used to try to measure the depth. However, you should not do so in jest – old folk believed that the lady of the water would grab hold of the pole and pull whomever is holding it down into the depths of the spring.
The name of Sopa farm and spring are most likely not derived from mud (which the Estonian word “sopp/sopa” refers to) but rather denominates the farthest corner or nook of something (as the word “sopp” has a dual meaning in Estonian). Over time, dead trees have fallen into the water from the banks and been conserved in the calcareous waters, now resembling broken parts of a well. Gustav Vilbaste marked the water output of the Sopa spring to be 333 l/s in 1936. In July 1975, the output was measured at 37 l/s.
Because of its steep shoreline, it is hard to draw water from the Sopa spring. In 2005, an observation platform with a wooden balustrade was installed on the edge of the spring, as the banks of the springs had started to sink due to the large amount of visitors.