Shedding light on Arlington's best kept secret

If Nikola Tesla and Aldo Leopald could maneuver a Vulcan mind meld the result might be half as noteworthy as the W&OD trail at twilight.

“…An agent that softens or smoothes the skin,” were the final words I scribbled down on my 103^rd note card before realizing that my window of opportunity was closing quickly. Last night, I witnessed Arlington’s best kept secret, and if I was lucky enough tonight, I would be able to catch it on camera.

Bolting out of the Tiki hut, I made for the W&OD trail, an old railroad line converted into a bike and running path in 1988. It’s this trail that makes you feel like you’re in Jurassic Park, and if you have a significant other, it’s this trail where you will probably want to sing your lungs out to her beneath the enormous trees looming overhead and the plush, green foliage girdled round.

But even more cosmically connected to this trail is the best kept secret of Arlington – the fireflies. If you go out on this trail at twilight you can see hundreds of them, popping and bursting with light, randomly infusing their bioluminescence upon a three-dimensional canvas. There’s simply nothing like it.

Though I tried my best to capture it on film, there’s no comparison to witnessing the miracle in the flesh. Scores of fireflies flash on and off. Some dot the trees, others hug the shrubs and some dance through the air. It’s like the feeling of neurons firing, or the birth of electricity without wires.