Date of Visit: March 2010
Website: www.nps.gov/ever
Location: Florida
Entrance Fee: $10 per car, good for 7 days
Type of Trip: Overnight camping trip
Park Passport Stamps Available: 5
Trip Report: I had lived in Florida for a total of four years before I ever made it to South Florida, and the two things that I wanted to visit the most were the Florida Keys and the Everglades. The Everglades is a truly unique environment, encompassing hundreds of square miles of very slow moving water as well as hundreds of species of birds, fish, alligators and even crocodiles. Before we visited, I had a very clear picture in my head of what I would see in the Everglades: miles of sawgrass, the ocean, and some birds. I was sort of shocked to discover that there were campgrounds in the Everglades (how do you camp in a marsh?) I did see all those things, but we discovered a whole lot more in the park as well. I was pleasantly surprised by Everglades National Park, and would like to return someday soon to spend more time in the area.
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| The Everglades |
There are several ways to access Everglades National Park, but we were visiting in a car and so we headed for the main entrance near Homestead, Florida. After paying our entrance fee at the booth, we stopped for a quick look in the Coe Visitor Center. It should be noted that we were visiting in March, during the dry (busy) season in the Everglades and so we experienced heavier use in the park than people who visit in the heat of summer. The weather was a little cool for March in southern Florida (highs in the low 70s), and very very windy, but this made it a really nice time for us to visit.
The Coe Visitor Center is the main visitor center for the park, and has several displays about the ecology of the park. We stopped in mainly to find out about any Ranger-led activities that were going on, and found out that there would be a tour of the Nike Missile site in just a few minutes. Now, this was not something that we were expecting (and I will admit, completely ignorant about the mere existence of this site). After inquiring about cost (it's free!) we drove a few miles to the site where the tour began.
The Nike Missile Site in the Everglades is one of the best-preserved cold war sites left in the United States. It has been left virtually untouched since it was decommissioned in 1979 and has only been open to the public for tours since 2009. This missile base was constructed immediately after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Due to its location (160 miles from the coast of Cuba), this missile site was on a ready-alert status for many years.
The tour was very informative, as Ranger-led tours usually are, and the Ranger who led our tour was actually in the military during the Cold War -- providing us with additional interesting details. We were able to go into the barracks and a missile barn while we were there.
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| Going into one of the barracks |
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| Signs from the Nike Missile site, now housed in one of the missile barns |
After the Nike Missile Site tour, we backtracked a little bit to the Royal Palm area of the park. This area has a couple of shorter trails that can give you a good look at some of the flora and fauna of the park. The Anhinga Trail usually will give you a look at some alligators. It's a very popular trail and was completely crowded when we were there, although we did walk a little way down the trail. We did walk the Gumbo-Limbo trail, however, which winds its way through several of the gumbo-limbo trees (sometimes called tourist trees, because they turn red and peel....).
After the Royal Palm area, we continued down the main park road, with a quick stop at the Pa-hay-okee Overlook. From here, you can see quite a ways over the grassy, marshy land. Our next stop was the Flamingo area of the park, right on the Florida Bay. The Flamingo area has a campground, small Visitor's Center, marina, small store and snack bar. There used to be a hotel and restaurant here, but the succession of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 rendered them unusable and they are currently closed. We had a reservation at the campground (see below for a review of the campground) so we checked in and got all set up. Then we headed over to the marina to see about a boat tour. You can do several things at the marina. If you brought your own boat, you can dock it/launch it here; you can sign up for a boat tour (for a fee), or you can rent canoes, etc. We had decided not to rent canoes as Jackson was still pretty small and not much of a swimmer, but Jackson and Jake decided to go on a sunset cruise of the Florida Bay. I was looking forward to a nap, so I skipped the cruise, but the boys had a great time. It cost $26.50 for Jake and Jackson was free. The cruise took about 2 hours, and a park naturalist narrated the tour. The boys saw all sorts of wildlife, including a blue heron. The naturalist told them that the only park employee that's been killed by an animal was killed by a blue heron. The park employee was tagging the heron for tracking, and the heron didn't like that and so pecked the person with its long beak. Unfortunately for the employee, the heron got him right in the chest and its beak pierced the employees heart. Jackson is, to this day, completely freaked out by any bird he thinks is a blue heron.
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| Jackson found a coconut near the marina |
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| View from Flamingo Visitor Center onto Florida Bay |
It got dark, so we cooked our dinner and had a campfire before bed. We woke up very early the next day, and had a coldwater shower in the campground. We packed up the tent and headed out of the park. Jake really wanted to take an airboat tour, so we took the Tamiami Trail road across the norther part of the park. This road actually borders the park, so there are plenty of private airboat tours along the way. We found one that looked ok and the boys went on an airboat tour. This proved to be very popular with them, and Jackson actually got to feed an alligator.
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| Before the airboat tour |
On my next visit to the Everglades, I hope to do some backcountry canoeing/camping on one of the many canoe trails in the park.
Campground Review
Campground Stayed: Flamingo Campground
Campground Run by: National Park Service
Available to Reserve?: Yes
Cost per night: $16/night for tent site; $30/night for electric site. Camping is usually free during wet season, but there is no way in the world I would want to be in a tent during the summer in south Florida.
Other notes: There are flush toilets, water and cold showers in the campground.
Review: The campground is located right on Florida Bay, and was very windy when we were there. Basically, it is a giant open field with some campsites designated; for this reason, there is not very much privacy at all in the camp ground. We were on the outside of the loop in one of the last sites, so we had a very small degree of privacy because we didn't have "neighbors" on two sides. There are also several walk-in sites available overlooking the bay, literally just spaced out in a big grassy field. That being said, I liked the campground. The sites were huge and the other people in the campground were pleasant and friendly, as I have found in many National Parks campgrounds. (There was one group on the other side of the campground that ended up having a visit by the rangers due to noise, but this is the first time I can recall this happening in many, many nights in NPS campgrounds). I tend to like the no-frills types of campgrounds because I like being outdoors and having peace and quiet, so this campground suited me just fine. It was also much less expensive than some of the state park campgrounds in Florida, which are far inferior in my opinion. This would be an ideal campground to spend an extended trip in, because you are not very far from the marina as well as many of the canoeing trails in the Flamingo Area. I would camp here again.
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