MAYFLIES

The days were long and unusually warm for that time and place, late June in the Boundary Waters wilderness area in northern Minnesota, where a group of six Boy Scouts and their sponsors canoed for ten long days and steamy nights. On the third day of the trip we paddled into camp for what we thought would be a routine night of fishing and tall tales around the fire.  What we did not know was that we were about to experience a miracle of nature, one played out in one night increments across the wild areas of the far north each year. For that night the Mayflies had decided that the time was right to perform their one-night symphony of life, procreation, and death.

It began as the last rays of the dying sun filtered through the trees surrounding us. At first the forest seemed to come alive, with every leaf, branch, and tree vibrating with a subdued buzz. Within minutes that buzz rose in a crescendo to a deafening roar that exploded into the sky in a thunderstorm of light, sound, and motion. A vortex of Mayflies thundered around us while light from the setting sun crackled from millions of beating wings.  Curtain after curtain of insects lashed against us, inundating us in a endless torrent of life.

At first the whirling of the insects seemed arbitrary. But as our shock diminished and the awe of the experience took hold, we began to see patterns within the ebb and flow – swirls and spirals that were manifest only when we freed our minds to look deeper; beyond the superficial sights and sounds surrounding us. The movement of any single Mayfly seemed random, but each insect danced its part in a grand ballet, fulfilling a collective purpose that has driven Mayflies since time immemorial.  

By first light of morning they were gone; the only evidence of their existence being spent carcasses scattered across the ground and waters around us. A miracle of life had played out around our little group that night, and those of us who experienced it were forever changed. For we were witness to a grand exhibition of life at its core; and, for the briefest and rarest of moments, we were infused with the power that underlies the universe and felt its energy flowing through us.