Everglades National Park

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK
This is the only place in the wild where crocodiles and alligators coexist.

The Park has two entrances: North entrances: Shark Valley (Miami), Chekika (closed), Gulf Coast (Everglades City)and South entrances: Royal Palm (homestead), Flamingo (gateway to Florida Bay).

Hot and humid Florida is home to a place unlike any other in the world: the Everglades, a 2,357-square-mile territory full of exotic wildlife and diverse habitats available for everyone to experience.

Pinelands, cypress and mangrove stands, freshwater sloughs, marl prairies, estuaries, coastal lowlands/saltwater marshes, and subtropical maritime ecosystems provide a home for over 1,000 species of plants, 350 species of birds, and 36 federally endangered animals.
American crocodiles and alligators look so similar that due to the threatened status of American crocodiles, there are thousands of alligators also being protected in the Everglades. This is the only place in the wild where crocodiles and alligators coexist.

Despite the swampy nature of the Everglades, fire is a necessary tool used in the park to maintain thriving and diverse ecosystems.

Whether you’re stopping in for a few hours or staying for a week the Everglades offers activities for all: camping, hiking, biking, bird-watching, boating, fishing, swamp slogging, geocaching, canoeing, and kayaking. Spend the night at one of the two campgrounds. There are also backcountry camping sites available and “chickees,” or raised platforms, for those exploring by waterway.

The Everglades not only protects scores of wildlife species, it provides over 6 million people in Florida with drinking water! That’s one of every three Floridians.

LIFE IN THE SWAMP

COST	Vehicle entry costs $20, motorcycles $15, pedestrians or cyclists $8, and all passes are good for seven days. The annual pass is $40.

PETS	Pets are restricted to certain areas.

OPEN	Everglades National Park is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

FOOD SERVICES

There is a restaurant only open January through May in the Flamingo area. vending machines available at the top of the Anhinga Trail. The Flamingo Marina has some snacks available seasonally. The Royal Palm Visitor Center may have some snacks to offer as well.

ACCOMMODATIONS

There are two campgrounds accessible from the Homestead entrance that can accommodate both RV’s and large groups. There are also backcountry camping sites available and “chickees”, or raised platforms, for those exploring by waterway.

SCENIC ROAD

Loop Road: a celebrated road parallel to the Tamiami Trail that provides a leisurely 24 mile drive through gator territory.

TOURS

Ranger led programs are available at most of the entrances, just ask someone at the visitor center for the daily activities. There are tram tours available along the 15 miles long River of Grass in Shark Valley, and boat tours through the Ten Thousand Islands at the Gulf Coast entrance. The Flamingo area has limited services but does offer a boat tour of Florida backcountry called Whitewater Bay. You can also hire a private tour guide (make sure they have a permit) to get a more tailored tour of the 1.5 million acre subtropical wilderness. Go fishing, boating, birdwatching, kayaking or canoeing on a tour.

FAMOUS TRAILS

Shark Valley is considered the lifeblood of Everglades National Park. Take a walk or bike ride on the 15-mile-loop trail that winds through the valley. Check out the observation deck for panoramic views of the park and an aerial view of some of the park’s most famous alligator watering holes. Everglades City is the portal to Ten Thousand Islands, a mangrove estuary. You can get there in your own boat or hop on one of the scheduled tours. Some of the best spots in the park to see wading birds, wood storks, limpkins, warblers, and bald eagles are at Eco Pond, Nine Mile Pond, and Paurotis Pond.

The main Everglades road between Royal Palm and Flamingo has a half-mile walk through the pinelands called the Pineland Trail; Pahayokee Overlook, an observation boardwalk that offers views of the River of Grass; and Mahogany Hammock Trail, which explores an area of jungle-like vegetation, gumbo-limbo trees, and the largest mahogany tree in the United States. The pinelands are considered the most diverse ecosystem in the park. They are made up of saw palmettos tucked under the open slash pine forests interwoven with over 200 species of subtropical plants. There are 43 miles of trails within this section of the park.

Set forth on the water in your canoe. The Hells Bay canoe trail is 5.5 miles in and out and is named for being “hell to get into and hell to get out of” due to the mangrove labyrinth leading to Hells Bay. The trail is well marked, so don’t worry too much about getting lost. Next, walk Anhinga Trail, a quick and easy-to-access boardwalk view of an Everglades National Park microcosm. See alligators, wading birds, freshwater flora, sawgrass, and other wildlife within five minutes of getting out of your car at the Royal Palm visitor center.

when to go

During “wet” season from March to November, afternoon thunderstorms are likely. The average temperature year round is a stellar 74°F to 77°F.

who may meet you here?

curiosity

Despite the swampy nature of the Everglades, fire is a necessary tool used in the park to maintain thriving and diverse ecosystems. These intentionally set fires are called prescribed burns or controlled burns. During “wet” season from March to November, afternoon thunderstorms are likely. The average temperature year round is a stellar 74°F to 77°F.

who was behind the EVERGLADES national park ?

Diminishing resources of the Florida Bay and freshwater slough areas of present-day Everglades National Park caused the formation of Royal Palm State Park in 1916. Soon after, in 1923, the first talk of creating a national park was thrown around and five years later the Tropical Everglades National Park Commission was established. Ernest F. Coe, known now as the father of the Everglades, was a land developer who got a taste for conservationism. However, his mixed interests almost jeopardized the creation of the park at all. Luckily, the House of Representatives simultaneously gave the go-ahead for a new national park in the Everglades and made sure there was no budget for it for at least five years. Due to Coe’s passion and a little help from his friends, enough money was raised to open the park on December 6, 1947.