I enjoyed it for the most part, but did feel the author was a little self-righteous and/or precious at times (see: frequent stops to try and rescue bugs and amphibians crossing highways, lecturing people mowing roadside vegetation, complaining about people who asked her not to camp in church courtyards); not everyone has the luxury of making a pilgrimage (crusade? Despite Mexico’s reputation for deserts and heat, in the high-elevation forest lit by a cloud-tangled sun, freezing storms and cold temperatures still bully the monarchs each winter. The quote below sums up some of what I find so important about learning more about the world around us .

Because it was April and the monarchs had already begun migrating north, we decided to forego the side trip. She is a trained biologist whose specialty is amphibians, and as she says, she didn't even really know much about the monarchs when she made the decision to follow their migratory pathway. Dykman tells the story of her journey in her new memoir, “Bicycling With Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration. Avoiding the coldest, wettest conditions is of the utmost importance for monarchs, as their nightmare scenario occurs when the two conditions overlap.Her scene-by-scene descriptions, sensitivity to the world around her and her sharp sense of adventure will make you feel as if you are riding beside her mile by mile through Mexico, the US and Canada.

Four of the colonies are open to the public: Piedra Herrada and Cerro Pelón in the State of Mexico, and Sierra Chincua and El Rosario in the neighboring state of Michoacán. Dykman is knowledgeable and opinionated and sometimes a little out there, but it was indeed fun to travel with her. Despite the limited area, the monarchs arrive each winter, and the oyamel fir forest absorbs nearly every monarch born between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. What is at risk is the integrity of the migration corridor that brings the Monarchs to the eastern half of North America. The guides are a mix of young and old, men and women; it was my good chance to have been paired with Brianda.I highly recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a good non-fiction read if you care about the environment, if you like travel books, or you're just curious about a woman who spent the better part of a year biking the migratory route of the Monarch butterflies in an effort to learn and to get the word out about protecting these beautiful creatures as well as our environment. S. State Department has recently issued a “Do Not Travel” advisory for Michoacan due to crime and kidnapping of tourists. To me, however, it was a reliable machine, a deterrent to theft, a statement against consumerism, and my ticket to adventure. Instead of flying around and burning lots of calories, when cold, they can dangle from the trees, use very little energy, and conserve their fat reserves for their remigration north in the spring. It was pretty cool to read about the enthusiasm of the children that she spoke to although there was the odd time that the older kids were more interested in the cycling than the insects.

This book hit a sweet spot for me - it's a combination of the experiences of someone who decided to take on a huge physical challenge (biking north from Mexico to Canada and back following the migration routes of Monarchs) and nature/environmental writing.However, I learned more about butterflies than I could ever care to know, and I never grasped the reason for Sara’s dedication to the butterflies.

Builds a data set that can more accurately track the migration timeline and how climate change is affecting monarch behavior in Mexico. This conviction is clearly shared by Sara Dykman, a serious cyclist and inquiring environmental scientist as well. Arriving in Mexico in January, I chose El Rosario for my first visit not only because it consistently has the most monarchs, but because it is the most accessible.With both humor and humility, Dykman offers a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all. She was 26 and lived with her family at the outskirts of town, where there were more fields than houses.