Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration

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I joined them, praying in my own way for the strength to be part of the migration and battle the many miles ahead. In Bicycling with Butterflies, we follow Dykman on her 10,200-mile solo bicycle trip along the migration route of the Monarch butterfly from central Mexico to southern Canada, then east to New England, and then back to her starting point. Most days at El Rosario there were around 70 guides waiting to lead hikers up the mountain, and 40 more waiting to take people up on horseback. It's far more unique to find a book that (1) discusses what to do when you break down on the road, (2) touring, not racing, and (3) is written by a woman.

I am a Master Naturalist who has planted milkweed in open spaces for years, spoken out about habitat destruction, reared caterpillars to adulthood for public education, and shared with others my pure love and interest for such an amazing creature! While other farms spray away the milkweed, Native American Seed embraces each plant and their monarch suitors. The idea that I can't trespass on private land but private landowners can trespass into my space, by dirtying my air and contaminating my water, has always left me doubting the validity of such restrictions.

As she has done in previous cross-country bike rides, Sara Dykman takes this epic trip to draw attention to the threat posed to the monarch butterfly. That forest, the last remnants of Mexico’s expansive, ancient ecosystem, caps 12 isolated massifs clustered in a volcanic mountain chain in central Mexico.

The monarch at my feet was just warm enough to crawl; he was shivering to warm his muscles to make an escape possible.

I'm assuming she wants to motivate people to make a difference, not just shame people for things they have only indirect relationships to.

All I knew was that treasures were not easy to find, and that winter’s beauty was guarded by vast space, steep mountains, and the echoes of a long-standing forest.She rides with the butterflies north, solo, across America, into Canada, a five-thousand mile, months-long ride, and then five thousand miles back to their sanctuary in Mexico. As I walked with Brianda, in the company of towering oyamel firs ( Abies religiosa) and leggy, smooth-barked Mexican pines, she patiently led me down a dusty trail, forgave me for my crummy Spanish, and courteously laughed at my attempted jokes. Dykman's time on this journey allowed her to not only talk with people that she met along the way, she also gave a number of presentations at schools to increase awareness and speak to concrete steps that people could take in their own yards to provide resources for the migrating butterflies. The book is a lament for our thoughtless destruction of nature and at the same time a celebration of the beauty that remains. Dykman’s transformation as she follows the kaleidoscope of butterflies is a wonder to observe as it unfolds… Her writing is frank, uplifting, informative, and gorgeous.