What are the Everglades
The Everglades National Park in Southern Florida is the third largest National Park in the continental United States. The park is home to a menagerie of animals including birds, panthers, bears, marine life, and (of course!) alligators. Prior to landing in Florida I envisioned mosquito-filled swamps, muddy waters and backwater bayous. In reality, many different ecosystems make up the Everglades and the National Park was created to preserve them (while most National Parks are for the preservation of geological features: read Yellowstone). Read on for an action-packed 3-day itinerary for camping in Everglades National Park.
Where to Camp
There are two campgrounds located within the park: Long Pine and Flamingo. Long Pine is near the Main Park entrance and consists of several loops of tree-lined campsites. Flamingo is near the southern coastal tip of the park. It has fewer trees and the camping experience was more reminiscent of camping in a field. Both campgrounds have electric sites, shower houses, dump stations, and potable water stations. During the dry season the campgrounds can book up so I would recommend making reservations ahead of time at the Flamingo Adventures website. For this itinerary we spent our first night in Long Pine and our second two nights in Flamingo, both experiences were great.
Camping in Everglades National Park: Day 1
Enjoy a (very flat) 15 Mile Bike Ride Shark Valley
The Shark Valley area of the park offers tram rides and also has bicycle rentals on a 15-mile paved loop to an observation tower. The bike ride was relaxing and we stopped a bunch of times to take pictures of alligators and birds. At the the midway point of the loop we climbed the observation tower for a 360 view of the Northern Everglades. I recommend getting there between 8:00 – 9:00 as the parking lot fills up, and you can make reservations online in advance for the tram and the bike rentals.
Try Some Exotic Snacks at the Robert is Here Fruit Stand
The Robert is Here Fruit Stand is located outside the park on the road between Shark Valley and Long Pine. It has an eclectic variety of foods including exotic fruit, gator jerkies, and ostrich/goose/emu eggs to name a few. We stopped and shared a Cuban sandwich and a guanabana milkshake and ate it in the backyard petting zoo. Overall the experience was delicious and fun, albeit a little weird.
Check out the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center
Stop and check out some of the park exhibits, and sign up for some ranger-led activities.
Camping in Everglades National Park: Day 2
From Long Pine Campground head over to the Royal Palm Visitor Center and check out some of the local sites.
Take a Hike!
There are several different paved hikes that originate from Royal Palm area of the Everglades: The Gumbo Limbo Trail, Anhinga Trail, Pineland Trail, and Mahogany Hammock Trail. These hikes are relatively short, on either paved trails or boardwalks, and are flat. While the hikes themselves aren’t particularly challenging the environments that they are in are very interesting and include gumbo trees, sawgrass marshes, and hardwood hammocks to name a few. I would recommend getting a map from the ranger station and checking out as many of these smaller hikes as you can. We were also able to sign up for the ranger-led starlight hike, which was on the Anhinga at night. The night hike was a totally different experience than the day hike and both were worth the time.
Experience a Ranger-led
Slough Hike
This was my favorite experience of the entire trip! The National Park Service offers ranger led slough (pronounced slew) hikes daily from December to March out into a cypress dome. We met up with the ranger and the group at the Royal Palm visitor center, drove about 10 minutes, and entered the water from the side of the road. The water ranged from ankle deep to thigh deep and was not nearly as muddy as I expected. We hiked through the water to an alligator hole (complete with an alligator!), while learning about the ecosystems and the park from the ranger. The hike lasted for about an hour and we hiked about a mile total. Check out the NPS website for instructions on how to sign up for this experience.
Learn about History at HM69 Nike Missile Base
The Everglades houses a Nike Missile Base HM69 that is older than the park. The government used the site immediately following the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 until 1979. The site opens daily from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM and is about 15 minutes from the Royal Palm Visitor Center. It was a cool place to visit and the volunteers were very informative about both the missiles and the site.
Take a Boat Tour at the Flamingo Marina
If you have enough time there are two late afternoon boat tours out of the Flamingo marina. There is a backcountry tour through Buttonwood Canal, Coot Bay, Tarpon Creek, and into Whitewater Bay. Alternatively there is a Florida Bay tour. On both tours a naturalist highlights the unique flora and fauna of the region. We were able to make it onto the Bay tour and saw a bunch of birds, rays, and sharks. We also learned about the original inhabitants of the Everglades and saw some of the islands that they had inhabited.
Camping in Everglades National Park: Day 3
Rent a Kayak and Check Out a Canoe Trail
Some of the canoe trails are weather dependent and we ended up going to Hell’s Bay based on recommendations from the guides at the marina. This is an out and back trail that leads to a few back country chickees (campsites). The trailhead is accessible from the main park road and the distance travelled depends on where you are going. It’s named Hell’s Bay because according to old timers “it is hell to get into and hell to get out of.” This canoe trail weaves through mangroves and can be very tight at times, but is well marked with PVC poles and was easy to follow. We had a great time paddling amongst the mangroves, and it felt like we were in our own little world.
Overall, the Everglades was a great trip. The paddling and hiking were great, the alligators and birds were really cool, and the scenery was amazing. I definitely have a new appreciation for the ecosystems that we were observed. One of the things that the ranger had stressed to us was that some of the parks scream at you with their geological features (e.g. the Grand Canyon) but the Everglades whispers with its ecosystems, and by the end of the trip I understood what he meant. If you get a chance to travel to Southern Florida make time for Everglades National Park!
