Shortly before Mother Nature rolls out her annual show of autumn, an equally impressive rite of fall takes place in the mountains just outside of Asheville: the passing of thousands of migrating monarch butterflies winging their way to Mexico.
From the middle of September and continuing for several weeks, the monarchs make their way through the Great Smoky Mountains at Wagon Road Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 35 minutes south of Asheville. You can see the location of Wagon Road Gap along the parkway by scrolling to the bottom of this Blue Ridge Parkway map (pdf).
According to Parkway officials, the altitudes at which the monarchs fly make it difficult to experience the migration anywhere else along their flight to the Mexican border.
At over 5,000 feet, Wagon Road Gap serves as the perfect lookout point for the butterflies which can often be seen in profusion alighting on flowers and foliage near this Parkway overlook in September.
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