Visiting a Natural Wonder: The Great Smoky Mountains
Above: The Great Smoky Mountains at sunset. Tucked between the borders of North Carolina and Tennessee, the Smokies are known for their mist-shrouded peaks, mossy trails, and biodiversity.
Last month, we went on a road trip to the Great Smoky Mountains to see the synchronous fireflies. The inspiration for my journey is a book by Leigh Ann Henion called Night Magic, which has a collection of stories about creatures of the night such as owls and moths, bioluminescent fungi, and plants, and she also addresses the critical issue of light pollution.
Fireflies are a magical sight at night, and the park is home to 19 species of fireflies. Synchronous fireflies are incredibly special — they all stop blinking at the same time, for about 4 seconds, and then they start blinking at random again. They continue this wonderful display up to two hours each night.
Typically, you would need to get a free ticket from the national park to see the fireflies. But if you can’t get one, you can see them through a private, non-profit organization called Discover Life in America. This organization is helping to catalog every species living in the Smoky Mountains.
We also did the road tour of Cades Cove, which is known for its views and wildlife. I saw black bears, deer, wild turkeys, a friendly crow, and numerous insects including cicadas. Cades Cove was once home to a self-sustaining community and some of the old buildings still exist. We also drove on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and hiked to Grotto Falls.
The highlight of my trip, besides the fireflies, was the flowers and plant communities. Every trail felt like walking through a living botanical gallery.
Many of these plants are native to our region, too, and I’ve used them in my designs. Here are some of the flowering plants we saw:
Poke milkweed and butterfly weed.
Wandflower, New Jersey tea, wild hydrangea, and rosebay rhododendron.
I saw a red elderberry, which I’ve never seen.
The flame azaleas were absolutely gorgeous and the climbing rose had pink flowers covered with pollinators. Their season is a little behind ours because of the elevation of the mountains.
I saw a climbing fern for the first time and a crossvine growing on the side of a tree. Did you know both of these vines are also native to Fairfax County?
Umbrella trees (a magnolia) grow in the mountains and so does yellow loosestrife. Both were a pleasant surprise.
What was most interesting and exciting were the plant communities. These are plants that live together in their natural habitat because the conditions are favorable, or they don’t compete with each other for nutrients and light. Some of these combinations may appear in a future design.
These are interesting insect galls.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and the wonderful things I had a chance to see. I highly recommend a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains and the book Night Magic.
Here are resources for this trip:
Eagles View – This is the cozy place where we stayed.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail
Discover Life in America – If you don’t have a ticket for viewing fireflies in the park, you can see them at this location. This is a private, non-profit organization.
Paloma Scratch Kitchen – This restaurant in Pigeon Forge has vegan options.