My wife and I decided to start off the year with a week of warmth in Florida. The impetus was to remove ourselves from Canada’s cold and experience one of the warmer U.S. national parks. January is arguably the best month in the Everglades when sun is still prevalent, but mosquitos are not. As the Park is a stone’s throw from Miami, we decided to base ourselves there for several days after first enjoying a few days in Key West with a friend who winters each year at this southernmost point.
The trip was all that we had hoped it would be, and I would encourage you to find your way south at some point to this iconic national park.
Enjoy!
What’s Special about the Everglades?!
Established in 1947, Everglades NP is the first U.S. national park created not for its scenic beauty but rather for the biodiversity of its ecosystems. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve. There is a certain beauty to the Park, but even more captivating are its environmental history, ecosystems and habitats.
Here are a few noteworthy points I learned about the Everglades:
- Size Matters: The Everglades extends about 60 miles east/west across South Florida and over 100 miles north/south from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf. Half of the original Everglades has been lost to human development. As for the other half, about half of that is the 1.5mm acres comprising the National Park. It’s the third largest NP in the contiguous US – twice the size of Rhode Island — and the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi.
2. It’s a Marsh: The old adage about “buying swamp land in Florida” got it wrong. The Everglades are a freshwater marsh, i.e. a type of wetlands dominated by herbaceous plants — sedges, rushes or grasses such as the sawgrass prevalent in the Everglades. (Swamps are more characterized by trees.) The nickname “River of Grass” is also a bit of an Everglades misnomer, as the “River” flows 100 miles southward to the Gulf on a nearly flat slope of 2 inches per mile at the glacial pace of app. 1/4 mile per day.
3. OMG, Cats and Dogs Living Together: Well, in this case, it’s gators and crocs. This is the one place on earth where crocs who prefer salty/brackish water commingle with freshwater-loving gators.
Fun Fact: Crocs and gators may be differentiated by color, snout and teeth. Crocs are greenish with a pointy snout and both upper & lower teeth showing when their mouth is closed. Gators are blackish/grey with a rounded snout and only upper teeth showing when their mouth is closed. Look at the photos above and see if you can identify which is which. Both can run and swim faster than you, so you’re toast if they’re hungry and nearby, unless you can execute the “zig-zag run” taught to schoolchildren in South Florida.
4. 2 Seasons (not 4), with Mosquitos Galore: (Please notice the rhyme; Parks and Peaks has poetry, too!) There’s the dry season (Dec-April) when one should visit – Jan/Feb is best – and the wet season (remainder of the year), which is better to avoid. The Everglades is renowned for its swarms of mosquitos, particularly during the wet season.
Not So Fun Fact: What animal, other than humans, is the leading cause of our death? Bear, tigers, lions, gators or snakes? No, it the lowly mosquito.
5. Where Have All the Mammals Gone?: Over the past two decades, the population of mammals – raccoons, rabbits, opossums, foxes and deer – have been decimated, but not by humans for once. The Burmese Python. A non-native snake, released by pet owners and via hurricanes razing exotic pet farms, this carnivore has no predators as an adult, not even gators.
Fun Fact: Several Florida agencies have created programs for the public to capture and euthanize pythons in the Everglades in an effort to restore wildlife balance. If any of you would like to participate, you need to be 18 years old; have a valid driver’s license, email address and direct deposit bank account; and pass the criminal background check. Compensation is $10-15/hour plus $50 per python and a bonus of $25 per foot of snakes longer than 4 feet. It’s a controversial program – this is Florida — but please let me know if you participate and update your will with me as your beneficiary!
Suggested Reading: Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the more recent work by Michael Grunwald, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise.
Everglades NP Overview
You can access the Park through three entrances, although the one on the western shore, Gulf Coast Visitor Center, is under reconstruction as its predecessor was razed by Hurricane Irma in 2017. My wife and I visited the others to fully experience the Park’s diversity.
You will find very little hiking in these wetlands, this “River of Grass.” During our visit, nearly half of the trails were too wet to enjoy, even though it was the middle of dry season, but we did walk the best of this Park’s trails. Bear in mind, that most of this Park is less than 5 feet above sea level.
Water activities – primarily paddling, fishing and boating – are what this Park is all about. We toyed with the idea of kayaking but decided instead to sign on to a couple of boat tours as a way to learn more. I’m very glad we did that because these experiences were excellent.
Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center
{Left to right}: Gumbo Limbo Tree, red and peeling; American Purple Gallinule “walking on water”; my wife disrupts a gaggle of turkey vultures while walking the Pa-hay-okee Overlook.
The Ernest F. Coe VC is located at the Park’s east entrance along the sole road leading to the southern tip of the Park, where another visitor center, Flamingo VC, is located. There are three short trails worth enjoying near this east entrance.
Anhinga Trail is the one most highly recommended. It is just under a mile loop of floating boardwalk from which you might see gators (we didn’t) and where you will definitely see a range of birds. Ironically, we did not come across the namesake Anhinga bird – which we did see at the other VCs – but did see egrets and herons and our new favorite bird: the American Purple Gallinule. This colorful bird is so light on its feet that, like Jesus, it can walk on water – well, OK, with the assistance of lily pads.
We also enjoyed a half-mile stroll on Gumbo-Limbo Trail, located next to Anhinga Trail, through a hardwood hammock. Check out the above picture of the Gumbo-Limbo Tree which serves as a joke likening the Tree to tourists – both are red and peeling. 😊
Flamingo Visitor Center
If you drive the hour from Ernest Coe to Flamingo VC on the southern tip, you must take the 90-minute Backcountry Boat Tour with Flamingo Adventures, the concessionaire used here by the Park Service. Reserve in advance. There’s also a complimentary 8:30 am paddle with a park ranger offered daily in high season.
A naturalist narrates throughout the ride, which takes you northward along a watery corridor among the mangroves and other hardwoods (not so much seagrass here). Our guide pointed out all the different trees and grasses, birds and mammals, crocs and gators, and other aquatic wildlife. I was very glad we opted for this activity instead of renting kayaks, as I learned so much about this fascinating ecosystem.
Fun Fact: We learned that Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor a moss and is responsible for the first automotive recall – the Model T Ford. This moss was used to stuff the cushions of the cars’ seats, but the moss is infested with chiggers. Talk about being bit on the ass, literally.
There are a couple of short, flat trails for a stretch of the legs. We enjoyed the Eco-Pond Trail, from which we saw a variety of waterfowl along its ½-mile loop. We also walked the Guy Bradley Trail along the shoreline for a mile.
Shark Valley Visitor Center
Shark Valley is the oddly-named north entrance to the Park. Up here, it is mostly sawgrass marsh, not mangrove, and there are numerous vistas from which you may see for miles. The River of Grass metaphor seems most apt.
We opted for two terrific activities. First, we took the 2-hour Tram Tour. It’s not in an aerial tram; rather, you ride in an open-air vehicle along the 14-mile loop road with a naturalist pointing out all the wildlife and flora. At the halfway point, there’s an observation tower offering a panoramic landscape view. The loop road was a veritable gator-fest! We also saw many, many birds – egrets, herons, cormorants, eagles, anhingas…
Not So Fun Fact: Several of the largest Everglades birds – great white herons, spoonbills, egrets, for example – were poached to near extinction in the early 1900s at a time when ladies plumed hats were the rage. Fortunately, NY State, the epicenter of the fashion industry, ultimately passed a ban on feather imports and they fell out of fashion. As noted by author Michael Grunwald, “The feather craze faded, except among prostitutes, which only hastened its abandonment by everyone else.”
Again, I was very glad we did this activity instead of renting bikes to ride the road, as I learned so much from the naturalist. Besides the loop road, there are no hikes here other than the scenic ½-mile Bobcat Boardwalk through a tropical hardwood forest — a quick and restorative stretch of the legs in this northern section of the Park.
Tip: The small parking lot at Shark Valley fills up by 10am in high season, so plan to arrive earlier. We arrived a few minutes before the 8:30am opening of the gate. When we departed, the lot was full and there was quite the line of cars awaiting entry.
The second activity that is an Everglades “must do” is an airboat tour. Shark Valley is the place to do it, as this is where most airboat operators are located. I made the very good decision to arrange it as a 1.5-hour private tour to enable us time to get deeper into the marsh and to have free rein to move around the airboat. (The non-private tours assign you to a seat, which often limits your view of the gators and waterfowl.)
Our airboat guide with Everglades Airboat Tours Miami was very knowledgeable — and very adept at luring gators out of their underwater holes to visit us. He introduced us to his long-time “girlfriend” whom he has named Mama Gator. We also collected some worms found inside pond lilies and used them to lure a couple of Purple Gallinules to feed on our boat. All very fun!
Tip: I did quite a bit of online research to select the best airboat tour, as there were quite a few operators that seemed “cheesy” and had negative reviews. Choose wisely!
Key West and Miami
If you do visit the Everglades, I suggest staying in nearby Miami for a bit of urban fun. From there, we also mixed in a day of exploring the Wynwood Arts District and the Design District of Miami, a nice break from the River of Grass. Finally, I recommend you also consider a couple of days in Key West as an add-on. It is a unique slice of Americana, not to be missed! Many airlines serving Miami also offer a short flight to Key West airport, or you can do the 3-hour drive, as we did, and take in the scenery and unwind.
There are 2 other national parks accessible from Miami and Key West:
Now, get out there and Carpe diem!
