Sheela and I went on a night hike in the Smokies with a leader and about 20 other hikers. These photos were taken by one of the other hikers just around sunset. Fuzzy pics but great memories. The last half of the six mile trek was done in complete darkness, with just an occasional red-lensed flashlight shining on the trail ahead to keep us from falling off the edge and down the mountain!

We were rewarded by the sight of at least three different types of firefiles (synchronous, blue ghosts, and some that stayed in the tops of the tall, tall trees.)

There were also glowing larvae of fungus gnats on the ground beneath the gorgeous white rhododendron blossoms (which also caught every bit of ambient light and sometimes almost glowed themselves.) The darkness was so complete, and the side of the trail so steeply angled upward on one side, that the effect of seeing the larvae glow was to feel oneself floating in space among the stars.
Magical.

The end of the trail, almost back to the parking lot, was marked by a large, football sized fungus brightly glowing as well. Oh, and the river, which we could hear below us on the downward side of the slope, occasionally gleamed like molten silver, reflecting the light of only the stars in the sky above the canopy.

Wow.