The Everglades: River of Grass

Don't miss Shark Valley. This is the best part of the Everglades, and the best place to get a feel for what Marjory Stoneman Douglas called 'The River of Grass.'

Quick Tips:

Avoid Flamingo, especially in the summer months. Everyone has the romantic notion of seeing flamingos in the wild, but flamingos aren't even native to Florida. Yes they have been seen here, but it is rare. Flamingo is buggy, not particularly scenic, buggy, a long drive, and buggy. Get the picture?

Best Way To Get Around:

At Shark Valley, take a tram tour if it is your first visit; bike the loop after that. At Everglades City take a boat ride. At Royal Palm, walk the Anhinga Trail. And if you must go to Flamingo, do it in the winter, and take a boat trip.

Though the main flow of the Everglades is in an area called Shark Valley, you won't find any sharks here. Nevertheless, it is indeed a valley. The 'mountains' on either side of the valley are only a few feet high, but that is just enough to keep the water contained as it flows southward from Lake Okeechobee. Flowing water through a valley is called a river anywhere else, and it really is no different here. Despite what most people think, the Everglades is not a swamp. A swamp is a wetland with trees growing in the water, and has very little flow.

The Everglades is truly a river -- a very wide (up to 40 miles), shallow (usually no more than a foot or so), very slow moving river. The headwaters are actually up near Orlando, where the water flows through the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee. Historically, the lake would overflow its southern rim during the summer rainy season. The water then flowed through the valley, slowly turning to the southwest as it joined up with the Shark River (Oh! Now I get it!). Nowadays, the lake has a big dike around it, and the waterflow is largely controlled by floodgates and canals. In Everglades National Park, though, the water flows very much the way it always has.

By the way, in case you are wondering why the Shark River is so named, it is because sharks supposedly come into the mouth of the river to give birth.

This is the best part of the Everglades. A fifteen-mile long loop trail takes you right into the heart of the 'River of Grass.' From the 65-foot tall observation tower, it is quite easy to understand where Marjory Stoneman Douglas came up with her now-famous name for this place. It just seems to go on forever in all directions.

You'll see tree islands of several types: willow heads, bay heads and hammocks. Notice how they are teardrop-shaped: wide and blunt at the upstream end, where the water-carried sediments build them up, and narrow and tapered at the downstream end, where the water flows past on both sides, eventually rejoining itself.

Of course, the thing most people go to Shark Valley to see is the wildlife. This is Alligator Central, especially on a cold, sunny day in mid to late winter. As the river dries down toward spring, the wildlife concentrates with it. The observation tower is right in the heart of it. Thanks to some artificially deep areas of water (this was once an oil exploration site) the critters flock here.

I remember visiting the Valley once, and in the span of the 15 miles, we spotted 367 alligators! Of course, there's lots more than just gators. You'll find a huge variety of birds, especially long-legged wading birds, and endangered species like the Everglades snail kite and the wood stork.

How do you get to the tower? You have three choices. If this is your first time to the Everglades, it really helps to understand how the ecosystem works in order to best appreciate it. To do that, take the two-hour tram tour. You'll have either a park ranger or a well-trained concessions employee as your interpreter, and you really learn a lot. If you've got the basics of the Everglades down, you can hike the road, or bike the road. Bikes are available for rental, and sometimes guided bike hikes are available with a ranger.

If you hike or bike, remember to bring plenty of water and sunscreen along -- it can be a long tiring ride, but definitely worth it.

South of Naples lies Everglades City, the western gateway to Everglades National Park. This is a water-based area, so you won't find any trails to hike or roads to drive. What you will find are boat trips out through the mangrove wilderness of the Ten Thousand Islands. This network of channels is easy to get lost in, or to lose others in. Historically, it has been a great place for rumrunners, gunrunners, alien smugglers and drug runners to hide out and/or lose their pursuers.

Start your visit at the visitor center on the second floor. Exhibits here tell the story of the mangrove ecosystem, and a little about the history of the area (like the fact that it was here in 1941 that Harry Truman dedicated Everglades National Park as the first park committed to the preservation of a wildlife habitat and not just for stunning scenery).

Next, take a boat tour out through the 10,000 islands and watch for a great variety of birdlife including ospreys and bald eagles. Manatees are frequently sighted, and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins really seem to enjoy riding along the boat's bow wake, to the delight of everyone aboard.

If you are feeling really adventurous, Everglades City is also the place to begin the 7-10 day canoe paddle along the Wilderness Waterway that connects to Flamingo at the park's extreme southern end. During the winter months, one can rent a canoe at one end of the trail, and arrange to be picked up and returned to your car when you reach the other end. Be sure to book this trip well in advance, as the backcountry campsite permits go quickly.

Not far into Everglades National Park's southern entrance is a turnoff for the Royal Palm area. There are two great trails here. The first is the Gumbo Limbo trail, which takes you through a tropical hardwood forest. While still recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the trail is a great introduction to one of the Everglades upland habitats. The trees and plants here are very similar to what you'd find in the Caribbean: mahogany, strangler fig, tamarind, and of course, the trail's namesake, gumbo limbo. This tree is easy to recognize by its red, peeling bark, which reminds a lot of people of many of South Florida's sunburned visitors, and earns the tree the moniker "Tourist Tree."

The real attraction at Royal Palm, though, is the Anhinga Trail, named after the long-necked black bird that frequents this (and nearly every other) area of the Glades. Anhingas swim beneath the surface of the water as they hunt for fish. When they find one, they spear it with their long beak, then bring it to the surface, flip it into the air and swallow it head first! Watch for nests right next to the trail during the spring months.

This is also a good area to see alligators, turtles, snakes and a big variety of birds, all at very close range. The boardwalk goes right by all kinds of nesting areas, and getting great wildlife photographs here is pretty easy. In fact, many of the nation's top wildlife photographers will tell you the same thing. There's no need to go slogging through the slough to get good pictures, just visit the Anhinga Trail and snap happy (and keep your feet dry, too!).