Everglades National Park is the third-largest national park in the continental United States and has been designated a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance. It’s the only subtropical preserve in North America containing both temperate and tropical plant communities. It’s also the only everglade in the world.

The Seminole people called the park “grassy water,” because it is essentially a wide, shallow river with no current, falls, or rapids. It flows slowly southward along the subtle slope of the land, eventually meeting open water in Florida Bay 100 miles away. This river flows along sawgrass prairies, mangrove and cypress swamps, pinelands, and hardwood hammocks. Everywhere there are wading birds, alligators, and dense and exotic tropical plantlife.

Still, I don’t think any of this conveys what’s so cool. A couple of days of paddling Everglades National Park will have you gliding past 12-foot gators, beautiful orchids and epiphytes (air plants) dotting the swamp with color, and birds engaged in a strenuous call-and-response—it’s an exceptionally wild and beautiful park, best explored by kayak or canoe, that is well worth extensive exploration.

The Everglades region is mild and pleasant December-April, rarely reaching freezing temperatures, and mostly without a drop of rain. Summers are hot and humid, with
temperatures hovering around 90°F and humidity at a fairly consistent steamy 90 percent. As with most places along the Gulf Coast, there are tremendous afternoon thunderstorms in summer.

Canoeing and Kayaking

Everglades National Park is America’s only subtropical wilderness, a third of it given over to marine areas and shallow estuaries easily paddled by rookie or seasoned kayakers or canoers (in my experience, a kayak seems easier to navigate through these sometimes tight quarters). The mangroves form canopied tunnels through the swamp, through which you navigate in a peculiar way: Often the flat of your paddle is used to gently push off from the tangle of mangrove roots when it’s too tight to actually dip the paddle into the water. In this way you pole through the tight spots, the nose of your craft sometimes hitching up in the roots, necessitating backward paddling to disengage.

Mosquitoes, surprisingly, are not a big problem until summer, when you probably don’t want to be paddling anyway due to the heat and humidity. Still, you’ll need bug spray, water, sunglasses, a flotation device (required by law), shoes you don’t mind getting wet or muddy, comfortable clothes, a hat—and a plan.

Check at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center for maps and directions. You can rent canoes downstairs from the visitors center at Flamingo Adventures Boat Tours. It’s fairly daunting to head off by yourself the first day, so the visitors center and Everglades National Park Boat Tours both offer guided tours on a first-come, first-served basis.

After that, if you want to push off on your own, put in at the canoe ramp next to the visitors center or the ramp next to Outdoor Resorts on Chokoloskee Island. As everyone will tell you: Don’t overestimate your abilities, and time your trip with the tides (a fall- ing tide flows toward the Gulf of Mexico; a rising tide flows toward the visitors center). If you want to pick up a nautical chart, No. 11430 covers the Chokoloskee Bay area. There are also detailed descriptions to be had at the visitors center and other local shops of how to traverse the Wilderness Waterway, a 99-mile canoe trail that winds from Everglades City over to the Flamingo Visitor Center at the southeast entrance to the national park. It’s about an eight-day excursion, to be undertaken only after plenty of diligent preparation.

Collier County has completed Phase I of the Paradise Coast Blueway, a system of GPS-marked paddling trails in the Ten Thousand Islands region that will eventually extend north to Bonita Springs. There is a main trail route from Everglades City to Goodland, as well as six day-trip routes ranging 2-10 hours of paddling. If you only have time to do one section of the trail, I highly recommend reserving a campsite at Rabbit Key through the Everglades National Park visitors center and camping out on the sandy, palm-lined, isolated beach for the night. The paddling trip embarks from the Outdoor Resorts center on Chokoloskee Island and is about five miles to Rabbit Key. It can easily take an entire day, depending on your skill level, strength, and the speed and weight of your kayak or canoe. It is especially important to check the tides when paddling in the Ten Thousand Islands region of the Everglades, as they are dramatic and can leave you stranded in water too shallow to paddle in, with nowhere to camp. You should also bring a GPS receiver and use the GPS waypoints posted on the Paradise Coast Blueway website for ease of navigation, as it is easy to get lost among the literally thousands of mangrove islands that look extremely similar.

Camping

Camping opportunities are abundant in this area, but you may want to stay indoors during the hot, wet season, June-October, and in April-May, when temperatures can climb above 90°F. The best time to camp the Everglades is November-February, with the park and surrounding wilderness getting the most visitors during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. If you’re looking for tolerable weather, fewer bugs, and fewer people, visit mid-October-mid-November or the last week in January, before the spring breakers arrive.

If you are camping in Everglades National Park, you’ll need to visit the Gulf Coast Visitor Center for an overnight pass. Two campgrounds are accessible from the Homestead entrance of the park: The Long Pine Key Campground, six miles from the Ernest Coe Visitor Center in Everglades City, and the Flamingo Campground, close to the Flamingo Visitor Center near the shores of Flamingo Bay. Both accommodate RV and tent campers and offer a limited number of group sites; both cost $20 per site and are first come, first served.

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