Luftee after work

I had some time to kill after closing last night, so I figured it was as good as any time as any to wet a line. I was able to get on the water at about 7 and fished until about 9. I had a mixed bag bows and browns, with two brookies to boot! A slam, after work, on the water for two hours. SWEET! None of the fish were particularly big, but they were plentiful. I reckon I caught maybe 2 dozen fish, give or take a few. Finally left the water when it was getting too dark to see my caddis. Only one fish was photo worthy, excuse the quality, it was getting pretty dark!
After changing out of the waders, I decided to head down to the Smokemont campground to see if the synchronous fireflies are any good there. I pulled into the day use area a little bit after the sun set and jumped onto the trail. The sun had set, but it was still fairly easy to see the trail in the dusky light. The white blooms of the wild hydrangea had a luminescent quality about them. I continued to move down the trail in silence, only hearing the crashing stream, and the woods coming alive in the night. Gravel crunching under my feet, the night began to draw in and I began to start seeing the first fireflies.

I hiked for about a mile, maybe 35 minutes before I felt it was dark enough for the show to have begun. I turned around and began to make my way back, moving more slowly, guided only by the light of the full moon. Moonlight was spilling through the trees, creating bright openings that made the darker areas all the darker. Here and there, I began seeing clusters of fireflies and they were getting denser where the moon was blotted out by the ridgeline to the SouthEast. I moved slowly, taking in the lightshow, and enjoying the serenity of being on a trail a night with out a light, and no one around me. I was alone, and the fireflies were putting on their show for me. As I continued, I came upon a seep that was glowing from all the females lying on the rocks. There must have been over a hundred of them in a five square foot area. I had to turn my red light on to make sure I wasn't having some kind of flashback, sure enough, they were all fireflies, glowing continually. Trippy!

I strolled back to the parkinglot, passing through a few low areas that were full of the fireflies. It never ceases to amaze me how they look like some kind of living christmas tree lights. It would be pitch black for 15 seconds and then all the males in flight would begin flashing at the same time. Something like a couple of thousand of them within the area I could see, say, 100 foot diameter. I wish there was some way I could put words to what seeing these are like when there is a high density of them. I would be bold enough to say it's one of the most impressive sights in nature I have ever seen. Obviously, photos of this could not be taken, and frankly, they couldn't begin to give an impression of how unbelievable they are. Like I said, I have difficulty coming up with adequate words to leave the image in your head. Just do yourselves a favor and come see the fireflies in the Park. They usually peak around mid June and are in other areas than Elkmont. Although Elkmont is still the best place to see them in the park. Average attendance each night was between 1200-1700 people while the trolleys were running. Expect company!