Too late to get a Great Smokies camping spot to see synchronous fireflies this spring?

The early bird catches the worm, so they say, but in this case, the early birds might have snagged the synchronous fireflies.

Even though it’s still January and the high peaks in the Smokies are covered in snow, lots of folks have been thinking ahead to spring and have booked just about every spot at Elkmont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This campground is the hottest ticket in town, providing a front-row seat to the world-famous natural display of synchronous fireflies that take flight in late May and early June each year, drawing thousands of people from around the world.

According to recreation.gov, the online campground reservation site for national parks, all the spots in Elkmont from May-June 8 have been booked. There is still some availability for later in June.

RELATED: On the hunt for synchronous fireflies in the Great Smokies

Campground reservations in the Smokies can be made six months in advance. Group sites can be reserved one year in advance and backcountry campsites can be reserved one month in advance, said park spokeswoman Dana Soehn.

"It's common for our busy campgrounds to be booked six months in advance. You can keep checking back to see if any are canceled. There is no waiting list," she said.

What makes Elkmont Campground, just over the North Carolina border on the Tennessee side of the Smokies so popular is its walking distance to the Little River Trail.

This heavily wooded, streamside trail is a haven for the naturally occurring phenomenon of Photinus carolinus, a firefly species that flashes synchronously, lighting up the pitch-black forest to almost church-like reverence from the hordes who gather on the woods’ edge.

Those not lucky enough to score a campsite at Elkmont must enter a lottery, imposed by the park in 2017, because of the lava-like flow of visitors overcrowding the trail, roads and parking areas.

RELATED: Synchronous fireflies found at Grandfather Mountain

The lottery, for which people enter at a nominal fee, provides a coveted parking pass for shuttle service from Sugarlands Visitor Center during the eight days of predicted peak activity to reduce traffic congestion and provide a safe viewing experience for visitors. The lottery also serves to minimize disturbance to these unique fireflies during the critical two-week mating period, Soehn said.

Those who win the parking pass must pay a reservation fee, which was $24 last year.

“We announce the predicted peak of firefly activity the last week of April through a press release and our website. This is the time period when we will manage the shuttle service to Elkmont. We will open the lottery process the last week of April. At that time, people will have five days to register for the lottery,” Soehn said.

The competition is fierce. Last year a record 29,000 people from around the world entered the lottery, Soehn said. This was a 57% increase from when the lottery was first issued.

RELATED: How popular are the Great Smokies' synchronous fireflies?

The National Park Service limits the number of visitors to 1,800 over eight days of predicted prime mating season for the fireflies, which is when the males start flashing in “sync” with each other to attract the females.

In 2013, park entomologist Becky Nichols began using scientific data collection and analysis to predict the peak of synchronicity.

Starting March 1, Nichols sets out two tiny devices in Elkmont called “ibuttons,” also known as temperature loggers. About the size of a watch battery, they log the temperature hourly.

One she attaches to a tree to record air temperature, and one she places slightly underground, to mimic where firefly larvae hang out.

“Once we have the high and low temperatures up to the day before I have to make a prediction, I plug it into a formula called a degree day model,” Nichols previously told the Citizen Times. “The model allows us to predict, based on temperatures, how far along they are in that process in any particular year.”

If you haven’t booked a campsite at Elkmont, there are other campgrounds in the park, but you still must drive to Sugarlands, by getting a parking pass. There are also ample places to stay in nearby communities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

The Smokies is the most visited national park in the country, with a record-high 12.5 million visitors in 2019.

Book a campsite

To book a campsite in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, visit www.recreation.gov.

Karen Chávez is an award-winning outdoors and environment reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and USA TODAY Network. She is the author of "Best Hikes with Dogs: North Carolina," and is a former National Park Service ranger.

Reach me: KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or on Twitter @KarenChavezACT

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