A Walk in the Woods

So, all this snow and unusually cold temperatures have me thinking ahead to warmer days.  Thinking of warmer days reminds me of  a wonderful experience we had last summer in the Smoky Mountains.  My mom shared a post by the National Park Service about the synchronous fireflies that show up for just a couple of weeks in the Smokies in early-mid June.  We just happened to be planning a trip in June to this, one of our favorite destinations for outdoor fun.  It was too late to get tickets through the park service-they sell out amazingly fast!  It was then I thought of one of our favorite small businesses in the area-A Walk in the Woods.  If you like nature, even a little tiny bit, they've got a hike for you!  They do one hour walks, or days on the AP!

We'd previously been on two hikes with them in the past.  The first time, my husband, ever the skeptic, couldn't believe we were paying someone to walk us through an easy hiking trail with our kids.  Well, that first hike more than exceeded my expectations.  Our older two children, 5 and 7 at the time, were completely engaged for the entire hour or so we were with our guide.  We were joined by 3 other families, whose children were all equally engaged.  The coolest thing the parks had to offer my kids were the salamanders...they could have searched under rocks in the shallow creek beds all day long.  They also saw bear claw marks on trees, old settlements, since grown over and most likely hidden to most passers-by.  The guide even provided a great snack-trail mix (of course!) during the hike.  When it was over, we were all sad...but I knew we'd be "hiking" with them again.  My husband, after paying the guide, got into the van and exclaimed that it was worth every penny.  I love him so!

Our second outing with A Walk in the Woods was another short hike, but this time, we were guided by Vesna, who is co-owner of the company.  What a special surprise-and, unlike our first hike, we were the only family on this particular trip.  She connected immediately with all three of our children.  We put our youngest in one of those backpack carriers we'd borrowed from friends, but he had lots of opportunities to safely get out and walk along with us.  Vesna was genuine in her interest of our children and her love of what she does was so obvious.  She shared so much information about the park, the animals, the history...I wish I'd brought a notebook to write it all down...Unfortunately, my "mommy-brain" does not go away, even in the middle of such beauty!  We were all sad once the hike was over, even though it ran long...Vesna apologized and hoped we'd not had any plans.  Ha!  Not when we're down here...we go with the flow!  We were thrilled with the gentle flow she'd gifted us that day! 

This brings me to our most recent (though certainly not final) trip with A Walk in the Woods and those fireflies I mentioned a while back.  Well, it was the most unusual, amazing and memorable experience we've shared as a family, by far!  We met our guide, Jamie at a pre-determined spot, took a potty break (no potties for a couple of hours) and followed her to another spot where we parked our cars and set out to see the fireflies.  We were all looking forward to this amazing trip.  It was like nothing we'd ever done before.  Again, our guide Jaime connected with our kids, making me feel like we'd known her for years.  She also knows her stuff.  I don't know how they fit all this into their brains!  She knew something about everything we laid our eyes on!  this hike was amazing!  We saw and heard (on her special echo-locator thing) bats, birds, rushing water, and then came the dark. Once dusk had passed, we found a spot, sat and waited in great anticipation.  Even our then three-year old was quiet and waiting-now that is something because that kid is only quiet when he sleeps!  Finally, we started to see them.  All flashlights went out.  It was so dark, we couldn't' even see our hands in front of our faces.  Yikes!  I will admit, that freaked me out a little, though I acted quite brave.  Plus, we were with Super Nature Girl, aka, Jaime, so there really was nothing to be afraid of.  I did notice a certain husband who kept looking back behind us-you just never know when a rogue bear might jump out and get you! 

Anyway...back to those fireflies.  They are so special because they are synchronous and can only be found in two places in the whole world, one being right here in the Smokies.  That name is a bit deceiving, as I was expecting them to flash all around us like Christmas lights, off, on, off, on.  It was so much more amazing than I'd imagined.  They are synchronous in that they light up in sync with those around them, but to me it looked almost like a stadium full of baseball fans doing the wave.  We could look down the trail from where we sat and see total darkness, then, they began to light up.  We could follow the trail of lights all the way up toward where we sat.  I tried to get some video, but total black was all I got on my little camera-phone.  No matter...it's a memory forever etched in all our minds.  We walked back after the "show" continuing to learn and hear about all that was around us...and of course, we searched for salamanders. 

If you're headed to the Smoky Mountains, or need an excuse to visit the Gatlinburg area, I highly recommend you check out A Walk in the Woods and all the different hikes they have to offer.  You won't be sorry for all the wonderful memories you make.  I can promise you that!