Everglades National Park Reviews and Photos, Everglades National Park

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Editor Pick

Up Close Encounters with the American Crocodile

September 24, 2009
Rated 5 of 5 by RoBoNC from Indianapolis, Indiana

The Everglades National Park, located in southwest Florida, is one of the largest national parks in the US. Each year, over a million people visit the Everglades to witness one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. The Everglades is under attack from human and environmental factors and although Congress has passed legislation to protect it, there is still plenty of work to be done. UNESCO has included the park on its list of endangered sites. There are over thirty endangered or threatened species that live in the park which include the Florida Panther, American Crocodile, and the West Indian Manatee.

Due to the park’s enormous size, you should allow yourself two to three days to view it all. There are four different visitor’s centers located around the park. We left Miami on US Route 41 also known as the Tamiami Trail. We made our first stop at the Shark Valley Visitor’s Center. We paid our entrance fee of $10 which is good for 7 consecutive days at any of the visitor’s centers. The Shark Valley Visitor’s Center gave us our first up close encounter with the American Crocodile. As we were walking to the visitor’s center, I noticed two beady looking eyes staring at me from a small stream next to the building. I looked a little closer and noticed its scaly backside. I was a little mesmerized seeing how I have never seen an alligator in the wild and being so close that I could touch it. A park ranger walked over to us and began telling us that this particular alligator just likes to be lazy and drift up and down the river. There is no barrier separating the visitors and the alligators which just adds to the excitement. The park ranger informed us that alligator attacks are rare and that although they live in the wild, the alligators are pretty tame. We decided to pass on the Tram tour which is about the only thing unique to do here and instead opt to grab a few brochures and proceed to our next stop.

Our next stop was the Big Cypress National Preserve. A swamp which covers 720,000 acres, it is an essential lifeline of the Everglades as the freshwater helps feed the marine estuaries along the coast. Although it is closely associated with the Everglades National Park, it is its own separate national park. The similarities between the two parks are obvious, but there are unique differences. The Indians have the right to occupy the land unlike in the Everglades and businesses and homes can be located within the park’s boundary. We stopped in at the visitor center to see what there is to do in the park. Unless you plan to hike or go four-wheeling, there is not much else to do other than a couple of scenic drives. There is a 27 mile and a 17 mile loop that encompasses the park. There is no fee to visit the park. After doing some more alligator watching outside the visitor’s center, we decided to go get lunch.

On US 41 near the town of Ochopee, I noticed a small white building with a US flag outside and a blue mailbox outside. Upon closer inspection, there was a sign outside touting the fact that this is the smallest post office in the world. The building is just big enough to accommodate one worker and one customer. The post office actually serves mail to about 300 Indians who live within a three county area. Most people stop in to buy postcards and have them sent with the Ochopee postmark. There isn’t even a bathroom and if the worker needs to go, the post office closes up and he heads to a service station down the road.

We turned onto Florida Route 29 and drove to Everglades City, which is about the biggest city in the northern part of the Everglades. We stopped in at the Seafood Depot where we nibbled on alligator bites and grabbed a burger before heading to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. This visitor’s center is the gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands. The Ten Thousands Islands are a collection of islands and mangrove islets along the coast. The name is sort of misleading as the islands only number in the hundreds. Most of them are uninhabitable, but some have been designated as camp sites. The unique activity here is taking a boat ride through the islands to the Gulf of Mexico. The cost is about $10 a person and it lasts about an hour. Dolphins will usually swim with the boat and showing off as they leap out of the water. Consider yourself lucky if you catch a glimpse of a Manatee. On the way back into the docks, our skipper pointed out a single runway airport, the Everglades Airport. It gained notoriety in the early 80’s when planes landed here bringing drugs into the US. Today, it is barely used except for a handful of private aircraft.

After three visitor’s centers, lunch, and the world’s smallest post office, it was time to call it a day and head back to Miami. We headed north on Route 29, where we went through a Panther preservation area. We picked up Interstate 75 or commonly known as Alligator Alley, as alligators like to rest on the side of the road. It is a toll road only if you are heading westbound. An hour later we were back in Miami to plan the next day.

The other two visitor’s centers are in the southern part of the Everglades. As we drove back from Key West to Miami, we stopped at the Ernest Coe Visitor’s Center. This visitor’s center has some educational displays and some short films on the Everglades. Other than some short walking trails, there is not a lot to do.

The last visitor’s center is the Flamingo Visitor’s Center. We were unable to make it to this one because of time. The Ernest Coe and the Flamingo Visitor’s Centers are on the same road with 38 miles separating the two. It takes about an hour to get to Flamingo from the Ernest Coe. Flamingo is the southernmost headquarters of the Everglades. This is a great place for hikers and those wanting to backpack through the Everglades.

The Everglades National Park is an endangered park and without extensive preservation efforts, the park may not be around forever. Volunteer opportunities are available and donations are welcome to assist in those restoration efforts. No trip to Southern Florida would be complete without a visit to the Everglades National Park.

From journal Miami - Gateway to the Florida Keys

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Editor Pick

Up Close Encounters with the American Crocodile

September 24, 2009
Rated 5 of 5 by RoBoNC from Indianapolis, Indiana

The Everglades National Park, located in southwest Florida, is one of the largest national parks in the US. Each year, over a million people visit the Everglades to witness one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems. The Everglades is under attack from human and environmental factors and although Congress has passed legislation to protect it, there is still plenty of work to be done. UNESCO has included the park on its list of endangered sites. There are over thirty endangered or threatened species that live in the park which include the Florida Panther, American Crocodile, and the West Indian Manatee.

Due to the park’s enormous size, you should allow yourself two to three days to view it all. There are four different visitor’s centers located around the park. We left Miami on US Route 41 also known as the Tamiami Trail. We made our first stop at the Shark Valley Visitor’s Center. We paid our entrance fee of $10 which is good for 7 consecutive days at any of the visitor’s centers. The Shark Valley Visitor’s Center gave us our first up close encounter with the American Crocodile. As we were walking to the visitor’s center, I noticed two beady looking eyes staring at me from a small stream next to the building. I looked a little closer and noticed its scaly backside. I was a little mesmerized seeing how I have never seen an alligator in the wild and being so close that I could touch it. A park ranger walked over to us and began telling us that this particular alligator just likes to be lazy and drift up and down the river. There is no barrier separating the visitors and the alligators which just adds to the excitement. The park ranger informed us that alligator attacks are rare and that although they live in the wild, the alligators are pretty tame. We decided to pass on the Tram tour which is about the only thing unique to do here and instead opt to grab a few brochures and proceed to our next stop.

Our next stop was the Big Cypress National Preserve. A swamp which covers 720,000 acres, it is an essential lifeline of the Everglades as the freshwater helps feed the marine estuaries along the coast. Although it is closely associated with the Everglades National Park, it is its own separate national park. The similarities between the two parks are obvious, but there are unique differences. The Indians have the right to occupy the land unlike in the Everglades and businesses and homes can be located within the park’s boundary. We stopped in at the visitor center to see what there is to do in the park. Unless you plan to hike or go four-wheeling, there is not much else to do other than a couple of scenic drives. There is a 27 mile and a 17 mile loop that encompasses the park. There is no fee to visit the park. After doing some more alligator watching outside the visitor’s center, we decided to go get lunch.

On US 41 near the town of Ochopee, I noticed a small white building with a US flag outside and a blue mailbox outside. Upon closer inspection, there was a sign outside touting the fact that this is the smallest post office in the world. The building is just big enough to accommodate one worker and one customer. The post office actually serves mail to about 300 Indians who live within a three county area. Most people stop in to buy postcards and have them sent with the Ochopee postmark. There isn’t even a bathroom and if the worker needs to go, the post office closes up and he heads to a service station down the road.

We turned onto Florida Route 29 and drove to Everglades City, which is about the biggest city in the northern part of the Everglades. We stopped in at the Seafood Depot where we nibbled on alligator bites and grabbed a burger before heading to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. This visitor’s center is the gateway to the Ten Thousand Islands. The Ten Thousands Islands are a collection of islands and mangrove islets along the coast. The name is sort of misleading as the islands only number in the hundreds. Most of them are uninhabitable, but some have been designated as camp sites. The unique activity here is taking a boat ride through the islands to the Gulf of Mexico. The cost is about $10 a person and it lasts about an hour. Dolphins will usually swim with the boat and showing off as they leap out of the water. Consider yourself lucky if you catch a glimpse of a Manatee. On the way back into the docks, our skipper pointed out a single runway airport, the Everglades Airport. It gained notoriety in the early 80’s when planes landed here bringing drugs into the US. Today, it is barely used except for a handful of private aircraft.

After three visitor’s centers, lunch, and the world’s smallest post office, it was time to call it a day and head back to Miami. We headed north on Route 29, where we went through a Panther preservation area. We picked up Interstate 75 or commonly known as Alligator Alley, as alligators like to rest on the side of the road. It is a toll road only if you are heading westbound. An hour later we were back in Miami to plan the next day.

The other two visitor’s centers are in the southern part of the Everglades. As we drove back from Key West to Miami, we stopped at the Ernest Coe Visitor’s Center. This visitor’s center has some educational displays and some short films on the Everglades. Other than some short walking trails, there is not a lot to do.

The last visitor’s center is the Flamingo Visitor’s Center. We were unable to make it to this one because of time. The Ernest Coe and the Flamingo Visitor’s Centers are on the same road with 38 miles separating the two. It takes about an hour to get to Flamingo from the Ernest Coe. Flamingo is the southernmost headquarters of the Everglades. This is a great place for hikers and those wanting to backpack through the Everglades.

The Everglades National Park is an endangered park and without extensive preservation efforts, the park may not be around forever. Volunteer opportunities are available and donations are welcome to assist in those restoration efforts. No trip to Southern Florida would be complete without a visit to the Everglades National Park.

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Editor Pick

The Start to Our Road Trip Home

January 10, 2009
Rated 4 of 5 by MilwVon from Milwaukee, Wisconsin

With 1,500 miles and approximately 25 hours of driving ahead of us, we thought we'd leave a day early so that we could take a leisurely cruise through the Everglades along the Tamiami Trail, Hwy 41 from essentially Miami to Naples. While we enjoyed the ride along this route a couple of days earlier during our Everglades Safari Day tour, it fell short in terms of opportunities to stop along the way to take photos of the alligators and birds found in and around the waters of the canals.

David served as an outstanding driver, tolerated my wish to stop at several areas to shoot photographs and to enjoy the view in a bit more intimate manner. At one point where we stopped, there must have been 15 or 20 alligators laying around on the shoreline, basking in the sun. Because they are cold blooded animals, it is essential for them to absorb as much heat during the day as possible. It is this need for ambient heat that drives them to crawl out onto the roads to get heat through their bellies . . . and often run over by cars and trucks driving through the area in the middle of the night.

If you make the drive across the Everglades in this area, be sure to pull all the way off the roadway. I couldn’t believe the number of tourists that would only pull off halfway, leaving their rear ends out in the lane of traffic. Good way to lose that rental car . . . "Hertz isn't going to be happy" to quote Shep Smith of FNC.

As you drive along the Tamiami Trail, there are several areas of Everglades National Park that you can visit. One of the most popular is the Shark Valley area. Another is the area at Big Cypress Nature Preserve. If there is a disappointment in this ride, it is the fact that visitors are teased throughout the area by "Panther Crossing" signs. As an endangered species, and one that is nocturnal, seeing a Florida Panther is a rare experience. Locals living in the area for their entire lives report that they've never seen one. Still, as we drove through, I thought "How cool would it be to be treated to such a rare wildlife sighting?"

There is little in the way of gas and food along this route. Most of what you will have available are part of the Native American reservations . . . or the tourist areas that specialize on the airboat tour market. Our view is that unless you're spending the entire day in the area; plan to eat on one end or the other of Hwy 41. You may find packing a picnic lunch to be a fun way to enjoy the area without getting caught at high priced facilities. Everglades City near the far western end of Hwy 41 is one place along the trail that provides some nice local restaurants like the Seafood Depot where we ate during our safari tour earlier in the week.

All in all, this was a great way to begin our journey home to the land of the cheeseheads.

From journal The Holiday Road Trip - Wisconsin to Florida

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Editor Pick

Shark Valley Loop - Everglades

August 13, 2007
Rated 4 of 5 by kathyjohanna from Stratford, Wisconsin

When first pulling into the parking lot of the Shark Valley Loop there isn’t a lot to see. You have to take the trail out into the Everglades. There are three ways to explore the Glades. You can walk the 15 mile trail to observation tower. Or you can rent a bike and bike the 15 miles (the bikes look like they’ve been around the block a few times and be sure to give yourself enough time to get your bike back in time). Or you can pay $14.50 and tram it. I highly recommend the tram. First of all, we were their in July and it was hot. The tram has a roof to block the sun and when the trams moving there is a nice breeze. Plus the Tram Tour Guide is phenomenal. She provides endless information and knows exactly where to stop and point out the details you don’t notice on your own. For example, we saw a nest of baby alligators that we would have gone right past without out fearless leader.

Once you make it to the observation tower the tram gives you about 15 – 20 minutes to enjoy the view. That is plenty of time to check everything out and search the ponds for some gators. We did see a gator out for a swim.

The overall tram ride was about two hours which is the prefect length of time.

The everglades are a stop for any trip to southern Florida, and the Shark Valley Loop (which has nothing to do with Sharks) is a great way to accomplish that mission.

The Shark Valley Loop is on Hwy. 41, 30 miles west of the Florida Turnpike exit for S.W. 8th St. The visitor center is open from 8:45am to 5:15pm from December to April, and the 9:15am to 5:15pm from May to November.

From journal Soaking up the Sun on Fort Myers Beach

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Editor Pick

Touring the Everglades: From Homestead to Pa-hay-okee

March 18, 2007
Rated 5 of 5 by callen60 from Ozarks, Missouri

There are three roads into or along the Everglades: I only had time for the route through Homestead along Highway 9336, the park’s longest—a 38-mile drive to Flamingo on the edge of Florida Bay. Just inside the park is Coe Visitor Center, the principal center for the park. Stopping here for an orientation is a must: you won’t find anything comparable inside the park. The ranger recommended visiting the interpretive trails along the road for a day’s introduction to the Everglades, so that became my plan.

I stopped next at Royal Palm for the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo Trails, two very different experiences within 50 yards of each other —a quick hint at just how varied this place is. (Royal Palm also houses restrooms, which can be few and far between.) Anhinga is one of the park’s great highlights, and I did both short trails before heading down the road. Four miles later, Long Pine Key Trail cuts through the Pinelands, an unexpectedly large stand of pines stretching below the road for several miles. I was starting to realize that the watery environment of the Anhinga Trail wasn’t all there was to the Everglades. Unfortunately, I was also realizing that failing to get gas outside the park obligated me to drive to Flamingo, so I decided to save some of these stops for the return trip, time permitting.
The Pinelands gave way to a large arc of Cypress forest, a great illustration of how seemingly minor changes in the environment make life possible for a very different set of species. Minor depressions from the usual elevation collect enough water to produce ‘Cypress domes’. The tallest trees grow in the deepest part, which is nearly always wet; trees on the slopes of the depression are watered less frequently, and thus don’t grow as tall. The result is a dome shape, with the tree height providing a mirror image of the hole in which they grow: short on the edges, and deep in the center.

After passing through Rock Reef Pass (elevation: 4’) you soon arrive at Pa-hay-okee Overlook. Although located amid cypresses, a short walk and modest climb up the observation tower gives a long, long view over the Shark River Slough, the miles-wide swath of fresh water slowly moving through sawgrass that prompted Marjory Stoneham Douglas to name the Everglades the ‘River of Grass’. I shared the view with a young couple from Germany who were resting on the bench. It was peaceful and perfectly quiet, with a few herons slowly taking their large steps through the grass. It lacked the drama provided by the two-dozen alligators I saw on the Anhinga. The natural response was to climb down and start exploring the prairie, but given its watery makeup, it’s just not that easy. In the end, I settled for a calming period of not-quite-solitude, watching the clouds move slowly over the landscape; then I left the place in the hands of the German slumberers.

From journal Sampling South Florida

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