"
By 9:00 we were at the parking lot for the butterfly sanctuary. We were the first people there other than a couple of kids trying to make a buck by directing us to a parking spot with a flag, despite the fact that there was probably enough parking for 2000 cars. There was a long line of restaurant/snack shacks leading up the hill, but only a couple were coming to life at that hour. The guides hadn't even shown up yet to offer their services, so within just a few minutes Ali and I were disappearing into the woods on our own. We picked up a well worn horse trail and I assumed that it would lead us to the monarchs.
The climb was extremely steep, and within ten minutes we found ourselves stopping often to catch our breath. We were up around 9000 feet and it was a serious climb. We went on like this for over an hour, climbing and climbing, yet never reaching the top which always seemed just beyond our reach. By this point we knew we had screwed up, there was no way this was the trail that the tourists would be brought up on. But when you are nearing the top of a mountain there is really nothing you can do but keep climbing. Eventually we reached a clearing and we thought, or rather hoped, that we'd find millions of monarchs fluttering around. We didn't. In fact we had yet to see a single butterfly.
We picked up another trail on the other side of the clearing and began a much slower descent. We were not happy at this point, figuring we had just climbed an entire mountain for no reason whatsoever. But then suddenly we had a butterfly flutter past us. Then another, and another. Pretty soon they were everywhere. And then, in an instant, there were billions of them. A grouping of trees in front of us were dripping monarchs. They were so thick that their weight bent the branches straight down. It was truly an amazing sight, and certainly one of the most remarkable things we'd ever seen. Butterflies littered the ground, both dead and alive, making it hard to walk. It was like a living carpet on the forest floor.
After finding a safe spot for our feet we turned our attention upwards. The trees were heaving, and as the sun shown through the forest canopy the entire place came alive in a burst of orange. When the sun hid behind the clouds everything became very still, but the minute the suns rays warmed things up everything around us began to move. It sounded like a cave full of bats flying over our heads.
Ali and I stood for hours, afraid to move our feet while the butterflies made themselves comfortable all over our bodies. They seemed especially attracted to Ali's head where she almost always wore at least one as a fashion accessory."
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