How to View the Synchronous Fireflies at Elkmont... Without the Lottery

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The most common way to see the fireflies at Elkmont is to enter the lottery. Because the natural phenomenon is so incredibly popular, the National Parks Service has started limiting the number of people into the area each year. They block off the entrance to Elkmont campground, and the only way to get in is to win the lottery. If you win, you get to park at the Sugarland Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains, and they will shuttle you into Elkmont.

If you don't win, you can still hike around other areas of the park and see some fireflies. They probably won't be the synchronous kind. Even if they are, they won't be as plentiful as they are at Elkmont. Elkmont seems to have the perfect viewing conditions, and it's the ideal place to go to see them.

So, if you didn't win the lottery, you're really out of luck for the year. At least, this is what most people believe to be true. The truth is: there is another way to get to view the fireflies.

All you have to do is camp at Elkmont campground.

The rangers will allow exactly two groups of people into the Elkmont campground area: people on the shuttles who won the lottery, and people who are camping at Elkmont (and have proof of their reservation). They even warn campers that you must print proof of your camping reservation and keep it with you. You have to let them know how many people and how many cars you'll have at your campsite. They keep track of it all. Elkmont campers can hike down from their campsite to the Little River Trail to view the fireflies, and they can do this every single night of their camping reservation. It's even better than the lottery!

I made this sound really easy: All you have to do is camp at Elkmont! In reality, this is easier said than done. Reservations for Elkmont open up 180 days (6 months) in advance, and the reservations for late May and early June get snatched up as soon as they appear. They're very, very hard to get.

My mother-in-law wanted to go see the fireflies. She's wanted to for years. I read up on how to view them, and I learned about Elkmont. I read how far in advance you can book (180 days or 6 months). So, early last year, I put a reminder in my calendar for November to learn more about the reservation process and begin looking for bookings.

Starting in mid-November, I began watching the reservations at Elkmont. I studied when they went live each day (answer: usually 9am Central, but sometimes they went live a little earlier or a little later). I studied availability. Every morning, I was there, checking on what campsites were getting booked up and when. I realized how tough it was going to be to get a reservation for early June.

Mid-November is when people can book reservations for mid-May, and people can reserve campsites for 2 weeks at a time. Some people began reserving campsites for mid-May that would be good until the end of May. I tried not to panic because we didn't want to go at the end of May. We wanted to go in early June. People booking popular sites at national parks used to book reservations before peak dates and then modify their reservation each day. For example, let's say a person booked May 15 - May 30 on November 16 (180 days in advance). The next day, on November 17, they could go online and modify it to be May 16 - May 31. They could do that every day to ensure they got a reservation for the dates they wanted without worrying about someone else getting it. This is called "sliding" your reservation. However, the National Park Service has come up with a way to prevent people from doing this. You can't modify your reservation for 18 days after you book it. No sliding allowed!

Throughout November, I watched the May reservations book up. By late November, there were only a few reservations opening up for each day. Let's say you want to check in on May 27. There will be some people who are staying at Elkmont from May 20 - May 30. So, their campsites won't be open for you to book on November 28. Each morning I watched at the end of November, there were only a small handful of reservations opening up. I paid attention each morning to see how quickly they booked up--it was almost immediate. Each day, there seemed to be fewer and fewer sites that became available, and the precious few were booked almost immediately when they became available.

If we waited, I knew we wouldn't get any reservations. So, on November 28, I was ready at my computer for 9am Central Time. As soon as the May 27 reservations went live at 9am, I tried to book one as fast as I could. The reservations were gone almost immediately. I couldn't get one. I was ready to go the next morning, and I solicited my husband for help. We both tried. Every time I clicked on one, I was too late! The next morning, I finally managed to get a site about 2 minutes after the reservations opened up. It wasn't the ideal site for us, as it was in the middle of the RVs (we are tent campers). I booked the reservation for May 29 - June 10. I knew we couldn't arrive on May 29 because of our school schedule, but I could always modify our arrival time later.

So, we had one reservation for an RV site. I decided to tell my mother-in-law about the surprise because I couldn't wait until Christmas. It had taken three days of effort and weeks of planning to get this reservation, and I wanted to share the news! We got a reservation to watch the fireflies, and they could bring their RV! I also told her we wanted another site for our tent, so we could go, too.

The next morning, December 1, it was all hands on deck. My husband was on his phone. I was on the laptop. My mother-in-law was on her computer in Texas. I'd kept an eye on the campsite reservation calendar and knew which ones should come available. We decided to try to go for the least desirable campsites to (hopefully) increase our odds of getting a reservation. Each of us was trying for a different campsite in the hopes of scoring one of them. We watched the clock hit 9am, and then we all refreshed our screen. This is tricky because the website will sometimes "time out" due to traffic on the website at that minute. Mine loaded. Then, the biggest surprise happened. On December 1, the National Parks Service released the campsites for May 30... and May 31 and June 1. This meant three times as many campsites were released as we were expecting. When I saw the availability open up, I was shocked. Then I took a gamble. I ditched the reservation I was planning on going for and went for a tent campsite on the river. These are the most coveted campsites at Elkmont... and I got one! I couldn't believe it. I clicked over to availability for all campsites, and then I clicked on the A for availability on one of the river sites. I got it in my cart. Once it's in your cart, it's safe, and you have 15 minutes to check out. I couldn't believe it when it went in my cart!

I booked the campsite on the river from June 1 to June 10. Once the synchronous firefly dates were released and once I knew my teaching schedule from snow days, we modified our reservation to June 3 - June 7. It was April when we narrowed down our dates, and I liked to imagine the joy of other people signing into the website and finding availability for the fireflies. Hopefully, it was a wonderful surprise for another family to find those dates open after we narrowed our dates!

The same day that I got our river campsite, my husband was also able to get another reservation, and it was right next to the original RV reservation we got. So, as a Christmas gift, we gave the reservation to his aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was turning into a little family reunion!

I can't guarantee this booking technique will work for everyone, obviously. I also can't guarantee that the National Park Service will release those dates all at once like they did this year on December 1. All I can say is that it worked for us... we were able to get 3 campground reservations at Elkmont during the firefly event.

So, if you want to see the fireflies (or lightning bugs, as we call them in the Midwest), I recommend starting the process in the end of November. If you can get one, don't hesitate: go for it! Get it in your cart first, and then do your thinking (since you have 15 minutes to book). If you're not having any luck, don't panic, and focus your efforts on December 1. I could be wrong, but I think they released all of those dates on December 1 because many people go by the 6 month rule instead of the 180 day rule. The rule of 180 days makes December 1 the day to book May 30. But what is 6 months prior to June 1? December 1. Then what day should they release May 31 for booking? According to the National Parks Service, it's also December 1. December 1 might be the holy grail of release dates for the Elkmont firefly viewing.

Plan accordingly, and, with a little luck, hopefully you will score a campsite at Elkmont. You can view the Elkmont fireflies with a campground reservation, and you don't need to win the lottery. If you don't score an Elkmont reservation, then use the lottery as your backup plan for viewing.

The lottery is all about luck, whereas there is clearly strategy and dedication involved for the Elkmont campground. If you're fortunate and fast enough to get a campground reservation during peak viewing of the synchronous fireflies, look around at your other campers. Most of them got there by doing some serious planning. They are strategic and cunning. And now, hopefully, with these tips, so are you!

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