EVERGLADES and BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE

Last Updated on September 12, 2023 by

Make the most of your Weekend

Everglades national park encompasses 1.5 million acres of subtropical wilderness in South Florida and is one of the largest wetlands in the world. It is also currently undergoing one of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken by man. Legislation signed into law in 2000 called the “Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan” or “CERP” is a collection of 68 public works projects designed to restore the flow of freshwater from Lake Okeechobee through the Everglades and into Florida Bay. It is of course not without controversy, with conservationists and climatologists wildly in favor, and south Florida developers wildly opposed. This, of course, does not even consider the long and complicated history of sugar farming in the Everglades. Environmental positions aside, the Everglades in their current state provide more than enough options to make for a full weekend of adventure.

We spent one pretty good and three great days exploring the Everglades. With proper planning, you can spend a full weekend achieving the same thing without feeling rushed. That’s why you came to this site! On our first day in, we realized there was only one road on the eastern side of the park connecting two visitor centers (and an information center) with very little in the way of trails along the way. I guess it should come as no surprise that the best way to explore is not over land if the park itself is 70 percent water. Not very much water though. As you can see here, we took a photo of the NPS marker indicating 5.02 MLW. After a it of research, we learned it means the mean low water mark over a 19 year period, because we’re nerdy like that. So, five whole feet of water at low tide.

There are four visitor centers in the park: Coe, Flamingo, Shark Valley, and Gulf Coast. Royal Palm is technically an information center and bookstore. However, there are only three entrances and each of them provides access to a discreet portion of the park inaccessible to the others. Coe Visitor Center is southeast and provides access to Flamingo and Royal Palm. Shark Valley is to the north and Gulf Coast is to the east, through Big Cypress National Preserve. We drove through Big Cypress, but did not continue on to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center so we can’t tell you much about it other than to say it is a temporary structure courtesy of Hurricane Ian.

Day One

No matter how you choose to explore Everglades, prepare for significant driving. Coming from Miami, Coe Visitors Center is about an hour, Shark Valley about 45 minutes, and Gulf Coast an hour and a half. Keep in mind that is just to get to the visitors center entrance.

Boating or Kayaking

On your first day, we recommend an early departure from the Coe Visitors Center to Flamingo Visitors center route with a reservation set for either a boat or kayak tour. The boat tours are shorter, approximately 90 minutes, while the Ranger led kayak tour is about 4 hours. Sanctioned concessionaire tours are also available through Everglades National Park Institute and Flamingo Adventures if a Ranger led tour is not available. Before you leave Coe, make a reservation for the Ranger led tour to the Nike Missile Site. It will take approximately an hour to drive straight through but there are naturally some stopping points along the way you shouldn’t miss. There are about a half dozen interpretive signs along the way providing some excellent information on the ecosystem of the Everglades. There are also a few very short trails worth taking.
Pa-hay-okee and Mahogany Hammock are two of the most popular, with turnoffs leading to half-mile, wheelchair accessible boardwalk trails. Also along the Main Park Road is the Pinelands trail, also a half mile trail.

If you decide not to reserve a Ranger led boat or kayak tour, there are also three excellent drop-in spots well before you reach Flamingo Visitor Center. We dropped in at West Lake in spite of the persistent wind. We tooled around a very small section of lagoon before heading out to the more open water of the lake itself and were immediately buffeted by the wind. If I haven’t mentioned it before, wind is probably my top three least favorite type of weather with the other two being wind and wind. Needless to say it put me in a sour mood that Angela immediately detected. After about an hour, I finally had enough and we headed back in, but at least we got out and about.

If you want to avoid the ‘open’ water of West Lake, I would highly recommend either Noble Hammock or Hell’s Bay trail. We didn’t opt for these because they are literally a small cutout in the mangrove forest off the side of the road. As first timers, it seemed very sketchy at best and dangerous at worst. However, knowing what we know now, we missed a golden opportunity.
Noble Hammock is a 1.9 mile loop on the east side of the road just past Nine Mile pond. The path winds through some tight areas of mangrove, so good maneuvering skills are required.
Hell’s Bay trail will let you paddle as far as you are comfortable, eventually connecting to the Wilderness waterway, offering an additional 99 miles of paddling. Please pick up a trail map from the Visitor Center before heading out.

Another excellent option – again if you have not already booked a Ranger or concessionaire tour – is to head all the way to Flamingo Visitors Center and drop in onto the Wilderness Waterway. This is a very accessible boat launch designed for powered craft – so concrete entry into the water. Just in case you’re not OK with dropping in among the mangroves. Here you have a 99 mile trail through a three mile stretch of canal to Coot Bay, and then on into the wilds of the Everglades. For today, we turned around at the entrance to Coot Bay. Power boats are also allowed, but it is a no wake zone for large stretches and every power boat that passed us slowed down to no wake in those stretches that weren’t. Plenty of bird watching again and just a beautiful stretch of land to sit back, relax, and enjoy the paddle in both directions. No gators (although we did see one baby gator floating downstream)! The mangroves provide more than enough shade on either shore for the duration if it gets too hot, and if you want a little sun just cruise down the middle. It’s beautiful, serene, and my absolute ideal conditions for kayaking.

If you decide not to get out on the water at all, there are a few trails leading from the Flamingo Visitor Center you can take that are longer than the half mile jaunts along the main park road. Snake Bight is a popular 3.2 mile out and back and the Coastal Prairie Coast trail is 15 miles out and back.

Please note that the Coastal Prairie Trail and Snake Bight Trail are not currently being maintained because of potential damage to critical habitat in the area for the Cape Sable thoroughwort. This is a small herb in the sunflower family with bluish-purple flowers. Global distribution restricted to coastal ENP and a few sites in the Florida Keys. Park staff are reviewing trail management techniques to develop strategies that won’t affect this habitat so that we can reinstate trail management in the future. For now the trail remains open but you should be aware of terrain that should be traversed carefully and may have vegetation, branches, or other flora and fauna that could affect your hike.

NPS Website

Nike Missile Site

Once you’ve finished your half day at the southern end of the park, it’s time to head back North for your Nike Missile tour. The park volunteer was definitely a hippy era dude and had some great stories along with a ton of history surrounding the site, the Everglades, and the military in general. I think it may have been mostly lost on the group of college kids we had in our group, but for the rest of the old heads like us, we were pretty entertained. It was about a two hour tour moving from the old headquarters building and on to the missile hangers themselves.
The Nike site was completed in 1965 following the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis and stayed operational until 1979. It was listed as a Historic District on the U.S. Department of the Interior Register of Historic Places on July 27, 2004 .

The site is only open from 10-2 during the week and the guided tour is at 2PM. If you are not on the tour at 2, you can’t get in because the tour guide locks the gate behind him to prevent entry. In this fashion, the tour guide has the opportunity to check the grounds while giving the tour, and when it is over, he is certain no one remains on the property.
Apparently entitled America has a very difficult time understanding these parameters. The Park Rangers were very explicit regarding the times when telling us about the site with emphasis on the fact that you need to drive about 20 minutes out of the way of anything else to get out there and yet there are daily complaints from people who show up at 2:05 and want to get in.

Doing the site without the aide of a guide would probably only take 30-40 minutes, but this is one of those sites that the bulk of information is not captured on the placards and the volunteer really fills in the color.

Day Two

Shark Alley

For your last day in the Everglades, head west to Shark Alley visitor center. Unlike our time between Coe and Flamingo, this area was absolutely packed. Primarily, the weather was an absolutely perfect 72 degrees, unlike the previous seven days worth of 90+ degree weather. More importantly, it was Sunday, and it took us a little over 40 minutes to get into the park on a one car out/one car in policy. Future note, when you are retired with no set schedule, don’t pick the day most likely to have a crush of humanity to be a tourist.
The area consists of the visitor center and parking lot and a 15 mile mile non-motorized loop out to an observation tower. There is a trolley that runs hourly that will take you out to the observation tower, but tickets are sold out waaaay in advance, so make plans early.
We opted to rent bicycles, got on the waiting list, and 45 minutes later were on our way. The Rangers will tell you there are two distinct rental periods for the bikes. The first group sells out first thing as soon as the park opens. Approximately 2-3 hours later, the bikes come trickling back in, get checked by the staff, and go right back out again. If you are not around during the first rental session or do not have your name on the list for the second, prepare yourself for a very long wait. Fortunately, we came in towards the middle of the second session sign up. Ideally, having your own bike is obviously the way to go.

The trip out to the observation tower follows along a canal for the entire 7 ½ miles and if you haven’t seen your fill of gators up close and personal by the time you reach the tower, you probably never will. We saw about 40, many of them snugged up in the 4 foot stretch of grass between the road and canal. We also saw, again, a ton of birds up close and personal, including a few we had never seen before.

The observation tower was a totally Jetson’s style structure looking out over miles of the glades. We also spotted the lone crocodile on property and some turtles taking their lives in their hands by swimming within a foot or two of the croc.

The trip back took us through the grasses of the glades and although there was less to see, the road itself is almost completely flat, so it’s just a really nice ride (although the headwind did make for some struggle for the last couple of miles).

Unfortunately, our perfect day was marred when a mother and her idiot kid decided leaving their bikes in the middle of the path was a good idea while the kid feigned death on the side of the road. Probably wouldn’t have been much of a challenge, but the family in front of us with their four kids under 10 somewhat erratically braked and swerved causing Angela to try and do the same. Unfortunately while the family in front successfully avoided a crash, Angela not so much. Some scrapes and bruises but fortunately nothing broken. Ironically, literally up until that specific moment (one mile to go) nobody else was on the path. What are the odds?

Once you have finished your bike or trolley tour, plan to take one of the airboat rides approved by the NPS for tours inside the park. Although there are several other companies along the road, these three companies have been approved by the NPS for tours inside the park: Coopertown, Everglades Safari Park and Gator Park. Any of these tours is sure to provide a thrilling and informative tour and will cost you anywhere from $40 to $90 per person for a boat ride between 40 and 60 minutes depending on whether or not you want a private tour.

Big Cypress National Preserve

If you have the time, or if you skip the airboats, plan to spend the remainder of your day tooling around Big Cypress National Preserve. Although it’s a separate park, it’s really just an extension of the Everglades. In fact, you drive right past the Shark Alley Visitor Center and all of the airboat tours on your way to Big Cypress.

The advantage to Big Cypress, or possibly the one reason to visit, is the campground on site. Small, maybe 30-40 sites that sits on a beautiful piece of land with a small pond and really large spots. If you are coming specifically to visit the Everglades, I would suggest staying here rather than any hotel or rental accommodations in Miami or Homestead. Rent an RV, or bring you own and enjoy a small bit of paradise only an hour away from the hustle and bustle of South Beach.

Beyond that, there is a nice boardwalk taking you through a good section of swamp and if you’re genuinely into the Everglades, there is a 10 mile ‘slogging’ route. Slogging means you will spend nearly the entirety of the trail in water between shin and thigh deep, competing with gators and brown snakes. While I might be game to try it, it’s definitely a route I would want to take as part of a Ranger tour.

To finish up your day, come home along the Loop Road Scenic Drive. It will bring you right back to Rte. 41 and is only a few miles longer than staying on Rte. 41 the whole time. You might get a chance to see the circle of life in action or the egrets coming home to roost.

Or you might witness a spectacular sunset.