Last winter's high count at the Pismo State Beach Monarch Grove was 471 butterflies. It was recorded on November 22, 2025, and it was still the season figure listed on the grove's visitor page after the holidays passed. Three winters earlier, the same eucalyptus trees held 24,128.
For decades, the standard local advice has been to wait for December or January, when the grove is at its peak. The numbers from the past two winters point somewhere else. When only a few hundred monarchs arrive, the best viewing at Pismo has come early. If you want to walk over and see clusters this season, November is the month to circle.
How far the grove's peak has fallen
Experience Pismo, the city's visitor organization, keeps a season-by-season record of the grove's highest counts going back to 1990. Here is the top of that list next to the recent seasons.
- 1990–91: 230,000, the highest season on record
- 1991–92: 175,000
- 2002–03: 130,000
- 2020–21: 288
- 2021–22: 20,871
- 2022–23: 24,128
- 2024–25: 556
- 2025–26: 471, as of November 22, 2025
The 2020–21 crash and the rebound that followed are a reminder that a bad winter does not decide the next one. Still, the past two seasons have looked alike, and both landed in the hundreds.
Pismo was not alone. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation runs the statewide Western Monarch Count, and its January 29, 2026 release reported about 12,260 monarchs across 249 California sites during the late November to early December 2025 count. That was the third-lowest total since the count began in 1997. The three lowest years have all been recent ones: 1,901 in 2020, 9,119 in 2024 and 12,260 in 2025.
On that statewide list, Pismo's 471 compares well with its neighbors. Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary in Monterey County counted 188 during the same period. Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz led the state with 2,500. In a lean year, the grove off Highway 1 is still one of the better places on the coast to see western monarchs.
Why the thin years shift the calendar
The traditional pattern still appears on Experience Pismo's season page. Clusters build through November as more butterflies arrive, peak viewing typically comes in December and January, and monarchs often stay into February depending on the weather. That pattern came from big years, when tens of thousands of new arrivals kept the trees filling for weeks.
Recent winters have run on a shorter clock. Last season, the Pismo grove recorded 235 monarchs on November 2, 2025, and 471 by November 22. Statewide, the late-season count ended January 11, 2026, with 6,464 butterflies at 193 sites. That was 47% below the mid-season total from a few weeks earlier. The winter before showed the same arc locally. The 2024–25 season high at Pismo was 556, yet a late-December 2024 count found just 197. Experience Pismo called that the lowest number ever observed at the grove.
Put together, the last two winters suggest a simple rule. When the population is small, the clusters you can see in late November may be as good as the season gets. Waiting for the classic January visit is a gamble in a lean year.
Experience Pismo's January 2025 explainer on the low numbers names the causes as habitat loss, pesticide use, disease and less milkweed along migration routes. It adds that adults also struggle to find nectar while they travel. Most of that happens far from Dolliver Street, so the size of Pismo's season gets decided well before the butterflies reach the trees.
The 2026–27 count calendar
The early-season count is underway as this post publishes. The Western Monarch Count lists three survey windows this season, and they make a handy schedule for when new Pismo numbers might appear.
- Early-season count: October 17 to November 1, 2026
- Mid-season count: November 14 to December 6, 2026
- Late-season count: December 26, 2026 to January 10, 2027
The mid-season window covers Thanksgiving weekend. Going by last year's pattern, that is when the grove's best numbers are most likely to show. If you have family visiting for the holiday, a walk to the grove on the Friday after Thanksgiving lines up well with the count calendar. Experience Pismo's season page posted updates through last winter, and the Western Monarch Count site is where statewide results land once each count closes.
Getting there without a parking headache
The grove is at 445 South Dolliver Street, at the southern edge of town just off Highway 1. Entry and parking are free. The free parking is also very limited. Experience Pismo encourages visitors to walk or bike, and you may not park inside North Beach Campground next door. For anyone living within a mile or so, walking or biking is the easy call.
A few things to know before you go:
- Trails: The paths are flat and accessible, and California State Parks asks visitors to stay on the designated paths.
- Docent talks: During peak season, docents give talks on weekends at noon, depending on weather and docent availability.
- Monarch Mercantile: The trailer at the grove is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., opening an hour earlier at 10 a.m. during peak season, which Experience Pismo lists as October through February.
- The trees themselves: State Parks notes that the tall eucalyptus and Monterey cypress provide the shelter and canopy the butterflies need, and a natural garden of native flowering plants sits next to the grove.
The sources disagree slightly on when the season starts. State Parks lists the grove's season as November through February. Experience Pismo calls it October through February. In practice, the first clusters typically begin forming in late October and build through November. A visit this weekend may turn up only a handful of butterflies, and that is normal for the opening weeks.
With a few hundred butterflies spread through the trees instead of tens of thousands, the clusters are smaller and easier to walk past, so a docent who knows where to point is worth planning around. That is a good reason to aim for a weekend at noon.
Coffee on the way
If you are walking in from the north side of town, Dulci Coffee makes a good first stop. It opened May 13, 2026, at 172 Pomeroy Avenue in the space where Kraken Coffee used to be, according to The Tribune. Owners Oscar Macias and Denise Lopez also run Taqueria El Quero at 711 Dolliver Street, which makes an easy lunch stop on the same route.
A November loop could go like this: coffee on Pomeroy, a walk south along Dolliver to the grove for the noon docent talk, then tacos at El Quero on the way home. Every stop on that route is in Pismo Beach.
Living near the grove is one of the quiet perks of owning a home in this part of Pismo Beach. If you're thinking about a move to a spot where a November butterfly walk can start at your front door, the Cometeers at Comet Realty know these streets well. Contact us, and the same agent will stay with you from the first conversation to the keys.
