elkmont

While I am always on the look­out for the best deals in Knoxville, some­times you just have to get in your car and drive a lit­tle ways to get the most bang for your buck. For the cost of a tank of gas you will be able to enter­tain the fam­ily, enjoy the great out­doors and may just learn some­thing about the Great Smoky Moun­tains in the process.

I have heard about the “Light Show” in the Smok­ies for many years, but this may be the year I finally get the chance to see it for myself.

For those of you that don’t know, there will be an orga­nized view­ing of the syn­chro­nous fire­fly dis­play at Elk­mont in the Great Smoky Moun­tains National Park June 6 – 14.

From the Knoxville News Sen­tinel:

The syn­chro­nous fire­flies don’t actu­ally flash in uni­son. Rather, one or two males will flash, and this causes other males nearby to start flash­ing at ran­dom, and for a set period of time. The effect is stop-start sequence, with each burst of blink­ing light last­ing about eight sec­onds. Syn­chro­nous fire­flies — Phot­i­nus car­oli­nus — occur in water­sheds through­out the Smok­ies, not just at Elk­mont. They like open areas in the for­est, prefer­ably near a water source. At Elk­mont, they’re vis­i­ble along the Lit­tle River Trail, and are espe­cially con­spic­u­ous where mead­ows meet the dark back­drop of the forest…In addi­tion to the syn­chro­nous fire­flies, vis­i­tors will likely also see some blue ghosts — fire­flies that don’t blink, but fly around with their blueish light stuck in the “on” position.

The Elk­mont camp­ground will be closed to vis­i­tors dur­ing cer­tain times, but a trol­ley ser­vice pro­vided by the town of Gatlin­burg will shut­tle vis­i­tors back and forth to Elk­mont from the park­ing lot of the Sug­ar­lands Vis­i­tor Cen­ter. The cost for the trol­ley ride will be $1 round trip per per­son, and only those vis­i­tors park­ing at the Sug­ar­lands Vis­i­tor Cen­ter will be allowed to ride the trolleys.

For more infor­ma­tion of the specifics of the view­ing and road clo­sures, check out the Great Smoky Mountain’s web­site.

I am look­ing for­ward to pack­ing a din­ner for the fam­ily and tak­ing in the Light Show next week.

If you have any tips on mak­ing this trip to the Smok­ies one to remem­ber or if you are plan­ning on attend­ing, let us know by leav­ing a com­ment below.

Photo by: AJ WMS