Where: Pocahontas County, West Virginia
When: summer
If you like: the outdoors and sports, conservation
Why you should go: Every spring and early summer, Southern forests come alive with the pulsing glow of more than a hundred species of fireflies looking for mates. Photinus carolinus, though, does things a little differently. The males light up in a series of five to eight flashes, followed by an eight-second pause, and as the night wears on, the bugs synchronize in a display most famous in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains and South Carolina’s Congaree National Park. But more recently, Photinus carolinus was discovered at a new location, too: West Virginia’s Watoga State Park, whose name comes from the Cherokee word for starry waters. The park’s 10,100 acres encompass its eponymous lake in the Allegheny Mountains, old-growth forests, forty miles of trails, and a new nature center opening this summer. In 2021, Watoga State Park earned international Dark Sky Park status for its pristine nighttime conditions—making it the perfect place to watch the synchronous firefly shows, which start sometime in June and usually take place around 10:00 p.m each night.
G&G tip: Tourism to see synchronous fireflies can put the bugs at risk. To enjoy them safely, keep flashlights off, as it disrupts their communication, and stick to the trail to avoid stepping on the females, which stay on the ground as the males put on their display.
