While in Santa Cruz, I stopped by Natural Bridges State Beach, which is another one of my favorite spots in the city. I was itching for a hike so I decided to check out the short, one-mile trail the park had. Luckily for me, the park is an excellent location to spot monarch butterflies! The monarchs migrate from the North and come to rest in Santa Cruz in the winter. There were more monarchs than I had ever seen in one place before; it was truly an incredible site. Unfortunately for you, I don’t have the world’s more impressive camera, so I had some difficulty capturing all of this, but I tried!

(Not bad, right?)

The hike (more of a walk) began with a boardwalk. The most butterflies were located in this area. 

View of the beach from the hiking trail.