Pitch your tent at the Flamingo campground and, if you rise early enough, you just might experience this type of sunrise/NPS
3 Days In Everglades National Park
Swaying to and fro in the afternoon breeze, the River of Grass appears more like a wind-tussled meadow than a river. But beneath the sawgrass the water gurgles and creeps. It flows slowly south from Florida’s great inland sea—Lake Okeechobee—and into Everglades National Park, headed towards its final destination in Florida Bay.
Along the way the water nourishes this incredible landscape in a park that boasts the largest official wilderness in the Eastern United States. It’s a mesmerizing landscape, fascinating, and even a bit dangerous. It’s a place that humans have been trying to tame for more than a century. Fortunately, we’ve only been slightly successful in that endeavor, and luckily this national park has protected a rich and vivid ecosystem, one lush with both vegetation and wildlife.
Everglades. It’s rich in colorful birdlife, home to both alligators and crocodiles, festooned with delicate and fanciful orchids such as the Cowhorn (Cyrtopodium punctatum), layered with both hiking and paddling trails. Fall and winter are the perfect time to tour the park, for those are the dry seasons in Everglades. The bugs aren’t too bad, the rains are infrequent, temperatures are mild, and the waterholes draw in the wildlife. It’s a much more comfortable park experience, climate-wise, and a much easier time to spot birds and animals.
But how can you even attempt to explore this land-and-waterscape in just three days? How can you do more than merely scratch the surface? While you can’t see it all, here’s a 72-hour itinerary that will let you get a taste of this magnificent wilderness.
At Shark Valley you can board a tram to tour a 15-mile loop, including a stop at the Shark Valley Observation Tower. The Pineland Loop Trail at Long Pine Key leads you through a forest of saw palmetto and pines/NPS photos
Day 1
No matter the season, you need a solid plan before you begin to explore the Everglades. Start off with a stop at the Shark Valley Visitor Center near Miami. This recently refurbished visitor center is the perfect place to begin your Everglades adventure.
Shark Valley is roughly midway between Miami and Naples, the two most popular visitor gateways. It will give you a chance to understand the magnitude and character of the expansive freshwater prairies that form the River of Grass.
Peruse the visitor center’s exhibits, stock up on reading materials, stamp your Passport to Your National Parks booklet, then hop on the tramway. These daily, two-hour guided tours explore the 15-mile Shark Valley Loop. The tram stops at the Shark Valley Observation Tower, letting you stretch your legs a bit while you climb to the top of the 65-foot-tall tower, via the curlicue ramp. The view is one of unbroken wilderness, stretching endlessly to all horizons.
Pro Tip—Pick the Season to Match your Reason:
If you’re hoping to see wildlife, then visit the Everglades during the dry winter months when animals concentrate around rapidly diminishing watering holes throughout the park. Winter months are better in terms of both temperatures and insects, but it’s also the busy season, so expect to share trails and campgrounds with lots of fellow travelers. Summer visitors should be prepared, however, for high humidity, daily thunderstorms, and incomprehensible swarms of mosquitoes, biting flies, and no-see-ums. The shoulder seasons are the best of both worlds.
Even a short visit to Everglades can add greatly to your birding life list, with Roseate spoonbills and Anhingas in abundance/NPS photos
If you brought your bike, or decide to rent one from the concessionaire, you can skip the tram tour and pedal the loop. It will take you two to three hours, and park staff recommends that you start early enough to return to the parking lot before it closes at 6 p.m. And, make sure you keep a healthy distance from any alligators you encounter. Wildlife does tend to congregate around the borrow pits near the loop road. During the dry season, these areas hold water, which attracts animals and birds.
You can’t miss the humps, or wooded islands, which are scattered about the landscape. These are tropical hardwood hammocks, which “grow on low limestone ridges that rise a few feet above the seasonally wet sawgrass prairie,” park staff note. “These flood-free ‘hills’ allow tropical and temperate trees to thrive.”
Day 2
Begin your second day at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center in Homestead, where you can learn about the southeastern portion of the park. After spending your first day exploring the Everglades proper, you will now head further south to explore the diverse communities nourished by the flowing waters of the River of Grass.
Head out on foot into the park via the Gumbo Limbo Trail at Royal Palm just four miles from the Ernest Coe Center. Along this quarter-mile trail you’ll get a rare glimpse of one of the hundreds of compact, canopied forests that grow here.
After this walk, if you’re in no hurry, explore the Anhinga Trail that is also at Royal Palm. But, be sure to keep your eyes open. As Traveler’s birding expert, Kirby Adams, has noted, “If you’re looking at a heron or egret in Everglades National Park, there’s likely an alligator in your field of vision at the same time.”
According to Kirby, the Anhinga Trail is among the most famous bird walks in the world, a spot where normally reclusive birds like the American Bittern will show themselves. You might get glimpses of Short-tailed Hawks, Snail Kites, Flamingoes, Roseate Spoonbills, Gray Kingbirds, and many more. It’s a great place to add different species to your life list.
Make sure you visit Long Pine Key, just to the west of Royal Palm. You’ll find numerous hiking and biking trails, which crisscross the rocky forests of the key. These pine rocklands are found in only four locations throughout the Caribbean, and they have the most biodiversity in the entire park.
If you still have time and energy, consider joining a park ranger on a guided, off-trail hike, and explore the secretive, inundated cypress forests of the Everglades. During the winter months, you can even go on a slough slog.
Everglades National Park boasts the largest contiguous stand of protected mangrove forest in the hemisphere/ NPS
Day 3
On your third day visit the Flamingo Visitor Center, near the southern tip of the park and on the edge of Florida Bay. While Everglades National Park might evoke images of swamps and scaly denizens, Florida Bay’s waters cover one-third of the park. There are mangrove channels in this vibrant estuary, which is of national significance. Emerald mangrove islands stipple the bay, and punctuate the horizon in all directions. You might get an idea of what the Florida Keys were like before T-shirt shops and Jimmy Buffett.
During the winter months sign up for guided cruises, offered daily to both Florida Bay and the backcountry. You’ll see crocodiles, manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, and all manner of shorebirds, so be sure your camera is fully charged and ready.
Also consider renting a kayak or canoe to explore the park’s mangrove forests. Everglades National Park protects the largest stand of mangrove forest in the northern hemisphere. These salt-tolerant trees are photogenic with their exposed and twisted roots. They’re also important wildlife habitat, so watch for wading birds that cluster in these forests during the dry season.
If you don’t mind sleeping on the ground, spend your last night in the Flamingo Campground. You can go home and boast that you pitched your tent at the southernmost point of the mainland United States. Summer visitors brave enough to spend a night at the Flamingo Campground get to brag about surviving the buggy ordeal.
Three days are too few to truly experience Everglades. But hopefully they’ll lure you back in the future for a more extensive visit.
Got an Extra Day? Get off the beaten path and explore the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness, the largest congressionally designated wilderness east of the Rocky Mountains. The wilderness spans roughly 86 percent of the 1.5 million acres of Everglades National Park, and there are plenty of opportunities for recreation and solitude in a unique and challenging environment.
Ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Then take some time to really get to know Everglades National Park, by kayak. Not many people get the opportunity to truly explore the park’s hidden waterways, find solace in the wilderness, observe animals and birds up close and personal, and marvel at the starry night sky in the middle of nowhere. This is a unique ecosystem, and after you return home you’ll remember the tranquility and beauty of the Sea of Grass. This subtropical wilderness is closer than you think.
Escape the winter chill during Florida’s dry season, with cool nights, warm days, and plenty of sunshine. See the “Real Everglades” as your guides with Florida Outdoor Adventures reveal the secrets along the intersection of Florida Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and coastal marshes. Camp along the Gulf’s white sands and watch the sun seemingly submerge into the ocean. Food never tastes as good as it does outside after a wonderful day of exploration. Whether you spend three days to get a sense of this place, or head out for more than a week to immerse yourself in this tropical climate, it’s all fantastic.
Sunsets on your tour provide an indelible memory, but bring a camera just the same/Florida Outdoor Adventures
You’ll become familiar with crocodiles, thousands of birds, and maybe even spot a panther or bobcat. Dolphins and manatees pay frequent visits as well. And there are fish everywhere. For a birdwatcher this is a paradise. Wind your way down hidden waterways, through mangrove forests, and past cypress trees. You’ll get an understanding of the complexity and variety of life, and come away with a terrific insight into the Everglades.
Your guides are at home here, and they will teach you the natural and human history of this place. They are experts in wilderness travel, and while this is true backcountry camping, with no running water, they make the experience easy and enjoyable. You’ll be in good hands.
Sign up for the 3-day kayak tour and paddle through the 10,000 Islands for a total of 18 miles. It’s an easy trip, with simple kayaking. You’ll spend two nights out under the skies, listening to the birds and gazing at the Milky Way that stretches the sky overhead. This trip is perfect for beginning kayakers and families with children.
On their 5-day trip, you’ll paddle a 48-mile loop that touches on all of Everglades different habitats. It’s a bit more strenuous, but worth it. This is the most popular trip because you’ll visit every Everglades’ habitat and stay at every type of campsite. This trip is best for those with some kayaking and backcountry camping experience.
The ultimate trip, of course, is to spend eight days paddling through the Everglades. This is a strenuous backcountry trip of 99 miles, and follows the Wilderness Waterway Trail. You’ll want to be in shape for this trip.
Gliding quietly through the park’s coastal marshlands can provide unique closeup views of wildlife / Florida Outdoor Adventures
You’ll go from the park’s southern tip at Flamingo all the way to Everglades City in the north. In between, there’s no road access and you’ll pine for this kind of solitude and peace-ofmind once you’re back in civilization. There is nowhere else in the Eastern United States where you will experience this sort of isolation.
Covered by your fee are shuttles, gear, camping permits, and trained guides. You’ll camp in 2-person tents, with mattress, sleeping bag, and even a camp pillow. After a day of paddling you’ll have no trouble falling asleep. There are no freeze-dried meals out here, just fresh, tasty and delicious food, and carry-along brown-bag lunches.
From Day 2 you’ll be immersed in this experience after the camp at Cape Sable. A day-by-day itinerary outlines your path as you paddle north, floating past keys, bights, and rivers flowing into the ocean. There are plenty of chances to stretch your legs along the way.
Then, it’s along the Desolation Coast on the Gulf, until you reach Ponce de Leon Bay. Here you’ll see dolphins, sea turtles, and white pelicans en route to your camp along Graveyard Creek. The next day, you’ll paddle the shallow waterway inland, the Nightmare Route. Despite the name it’s a pleasant paddle beneath the shady mangroves, and you’ll spend the night on a camping platform, referred as a “chickee” by park officials, at Roger’s River Bay. You’ll hear the fish jumping all night long.
The next day, you’ll be floating next to alligators in fresh water along the Wilderness Waterway, an entrancing but completely safe experience. The guides will thrill you with stories of lost Spanish sailors and Native American outposts.
Campsites include elevated “chickees” that provide sweeping views of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico/NPS
Finally, you’ll approach the 10,000 Islands area, a vast region of mangrove trees in a tidal estuary. It’s here that you’ll want to bring out your binoculars and observe the migratory birds, as well as resident ibis, osprey, pink spoonbills and eagles.
A week in the Everglades, paddling slowly through the wilderness, can change your life, and put some needed perspective on your modern existence. You’ll carry these memories with you forever, and maybe just need to return again, and again, to the Sea of Grass.
Comments
Excellent article.