Yesterday, Linda and Steven, friends from Pawtucket, and I experienced an incredible phenomenon of nature.  We visited a spot in the Sierra Madre mountains where millions of Monarch butterflies spend the winter.  It took us 3.5 hours to get to the site, which is located 11,000 feet above sea level.  From there we rode horses for an hour into a forest of fir trees, and as we rode, the horses kicked up dense clouds of dust.  Once we dismounted, we walked even further into the woods, first spotting a few butterflies, then more, then even more, then millions of them! 

The butterflies migrate from Canada and the Great Lakes area of the US every November and stay in Mexico until mid March.  They migrate once in their lifetime after they are three or four years old.  After they return north, they die.

While in Mexico they hang out at the tops of the fir trees in a region that measures 60 square miles.  The Mexican government has designated this area as a protected sanctuary for the Monarchs.  From November through February, the butterflies are pretty much inactive, but in early March they begin flapping their wings in preparation for the trip north.

We saw huge dense clumps of butterflies on the limbs of the trees and we saw them fluttering all around.  As we walked further into the midst of the colony, they were flying all around us.  It was magical!!  It was really difficult to photograph them flying around because they were moving, but the three of us took many pictures of them perched.  Here are some of Linda's and my photos:





The orange stuff in the trees in the picture below are thick clumps of butterflies!









These two, like may others, were mating.



Now a bunch of pretty butterfly pictures. (It was almost impossible to stop taking pictures.)















After thoroughly enjoying ourselves photographing and marveling over this incredible wonder of nature, we headed back.  It took us an hour of walking up hill to get to the horses and it almost did me in. (I don't do well at high altitudes.) Then it took us another hour of riding the horses back to the car.  Then another 3.5 hours to get back to San Miguel. Needless to say, it was a long and exhausting day for three "not as young as we use to be" individuals.  As grueling as the trip was, it was worth it to experience the butterflies! 

Here are my butterfly side-kicks.