Having lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years now, I’m always amazed when I discover new places that make me wonder “How have I not known about this?” We recently came upon one of those places—Natural Bridges State Beach. The fact that it’s in Santa Cruz, a short 1.5 – 2 hour drive from San Francisco, made it even more incredible that we’d never been.
In preparation for our upcoming trip to Mexico City, I had started researching monarch butterflies as I had remembered reading that their primary overwintering site is somewhere in Mexico. One of my searches turned up information about a population of monarchs that migrate from the Rockies to overwinter among the eucalyptus, cypress and pine groves along the California coast between October through February. These western monarchs are typically fourth-generation butterflies that will live longer (6-9 months), eventually reproduce and start the migratory cycle all over again.
The first generation monarchs (descendants of the fourth-generation butterflies that have reproduced), after becoming adults, leave the groves and disperse across the Central Valley and most of the western United States to live where milkweed is found. Their offspring—second- and third-generation monarchs—live for a short 2-5 weeks and usually die in the same place where they were hatched. When the fourth-, or migratory, generation is born in the late summer to fall, these monarchs are the ones that somehow figure out how to fly back to the coast. How do they know where to go? Seems like there are different theories but no one really knows for sure. So amazing.
A beach seems like a strange place to go see butterflies but as it turns out, the mild weather of Santa Cruz plus a special eucalyptus grove, provide the right combination of what the monarch’s need. We showed up at Natural Bridges in the early afternoon. The butterflies are most active after they have been warmed up by the sun so the decision to visit around 2:30 P.M. was a calculated one.
Just to the right of the visitor center (if you are facing it) is a boardwalk that leads into the monarch preserve. As we followed the trail, we saw one or two butterflies flitting past us but it wasn’t until we passed the pond and arrived at the observation deck that we realized just how many butterflies there were. We craned our neck up towards the eucalyptus trees and, oh wow, could see these dark clusters that looked like dead leaves but were actually hundreds of butterflies clinging to the leaves and each other. Where the sun hit the leaves, we could see patches of orange as the monarchs flapped their wings. There was a ranger who had a scope set up (we had brought our own binoculars) and was patiently answering questions. I learned that there were about 7000+ butterflies this season, much more than years past, but still a fraction of the all time high.
I can’t express how magical it was to see these insects, so fragile looking and yet able to withstand such a long journey, flying up to a hundred miles a day to reach their destination. That the eastern monarch population will fly about 3000 miles to Mexico is beyond comprehension. What we experienced at Natural Bridges filled me with even more anticipation of what we would hopefully encounter on our trip to Mexico.
After hanging out with the monarchs, we decided to check out the tide pools. The path starts at the end of the beach, up the small rocky hill on the right and through the public gate leading into the community. Once inside the housing complex, there are signs that lead you past the homes and community center and back downhill towards the water. The tide pools are located to the right.
We had fun examining the marine life found in the pockets of seawater left behind by the receding tide: mussels, barnacles, green and yellow-colored anemones.
As the sun started to set, we headed back to the main beach and watched the sky turn shades of pink, orange and red. The pelicans sitting on the rocky bridge-like outcropping (the beach’s namesake), took turns flying off into the dusky sky. A guy was blowing bubbles and one just happened to float by and magnify the sun as it was setting.
It was a magical end to a magical day.
Read about our trip to the monarch butterfly sanctuaries in the Central Highlands of Mexico here.
Additional Info
- The entrance fee for Natural Bridges State Beach is $10.
- The monarch butterflies typically start arriving in mid-October and stay until mid-February. Late October and all of November are usually the best times to visit the park. The number of butterflies roosting in the grove varies year-to-year.