Oct 3 2025 is the 10th anniversary of the Monrach Waystations of Black Mountain. We will celebrate by watching the migration for 3 weeks of Friday Mornings from Sept 19th through Oct 3rd . Nature is unpredictable and we don't know exactly when and where peak migration will be this year, so I am setting aside these 3 Friday mornings in hopes that we will catch a large migration event. In 2023, we had over 1000 monarchs visiting the meadow during late September and it was here on Oct 3, 2015 where I saw my first monarch migration event, which inspired the creation of the Waystation here.
We will begin each Friday morning here at the South Veterans Park Waystation in Black Mountain. We will stay here and observe Monarchs if they are plentiful in the fields and meadows here at the park. If there aren't many here, we will caravan to other known locations in the vicinity where they are known to gather. I will be following Journey North (
https://maps.journeynorth.org/maps) to know when and where to expect them. Each morning (9/19, 9/26, & 10/3) will likely last from 9 am to 11am, but times are weather and butterfly activity dependent (we could start later on cold mornings).
For folks interested in joining on an adventure to travel up to sites on the Blue Ridge Parkway to observe peak migration (This will likely be on Friday Sept 26th, but only the monarchs know at this point) you can expect to travel up the parkway at least as far at MP415 at Cherry Cove Overlook and to be back down to Asheville/Black Mountain area in early afternoon (pack a snack). You are welcome to meet to observe them with us at Veterans Park that morning even if you aren't able to caravan up the Parkway.
If you are interested in joining and would like to keep up with details via email rather than FB, please send me your email address and/or phone number
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Also check out other Trips & Adventurous Activities in Black Mountain.