view from the enchanted forest

We arrived around dusk last night for a long overdue visit to the Firefly Forest. There was enough light for a few pictures before I put the camera away and enjoyed the light show.

We saw one distant glimmer. "There!" "I saw one!"

Soon, there were three or four in the distance, and one flying toward us, emitting a steady, pale blue glow. Within minutes, there were hundreds flying down the hillside, like a mass of Christmas lights stretched among the trees.

These fireflies, Phausis reticulata, are found en masse in only a few places in the southern Appalachians. They live - and light - for only a couple of weeks each spring. But what an impression they leave behind.