Dates we visited: Apr 22nd 2021
Where we stayed: Miami Everglades RV Resort
After departing from Hot Springs, Arkansas, we made a few short stops in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama before arriving at our excellent campground just outside of Miami to visit Everglades National Park. Everglades is a large park, occupying a good portion of the southern tip of Florida, and it differs in many ways from the parks out west. Most notably it doesn’t have the same immediately striking visual features as places like Yellowstone or Glacier. This park was protected primarily to preserve the ecology of the area. Having spent so much time on the western side of the country, we were amazed at the abundance and diversity of wildlife that we found here.
Royal Palm
After a quick stop at the Ernest F. Coe visitor center near the main entrance to the park, we continued on a short distance down Main Park Road to the Royal Palm area. On the recommendation of one of the rangers, we set off on the 1.5 mile Anhinga Trail loop.
This trail starts off paved, and transitions into a boardwalk over the grassy swamplands. We were quickly taken aback by the amount of wildlife we found on this trail. Exotic and colorful bugs and lizards were in abundant supply. There were also a number of different large and small birds, including the namesake of the trail, the Anhinga. Additionally, we saw turtles and a variety of fish in the water that occasionally popped up to catch a bug. The alligators were the highlight though. We saw between five and ten different gators, some swimming, some lounging partially submerged, and one laid out right across the paved trail. It was wild, and a little scary to see these creatures up close in their natural habitat.
This trail is popular, and can get busy at peak times, but we only encountered a handful of other visitors. We greatly enjoyed it, and give it a high recommendation for anyone visiting the park.
Flamingo
Our next stop was at the far southern end of the park where Main Park Road ends, Flamingo. There is another visitor center here, along with camping, some concessions and a boat launch. Since a lot of the Everglades is best experienced from on the water, we decided to do the Back Country Boat Tour offered by Flamingo Everglades. There was limited seating and masks required due to Covid. This hour and a half long boat tour took us through two canals and eventually out into Whitewater Bay.
Right off the bat we saw several large crocodiles. Which, by the way, neither Kristy or I realized that gators and crocs can live in such close proximity to each other. As our guide educated us on the various types of mangrove trees and other foliage, we also came across a manatee in the canal, and then a dolphin out in the bay. The boat tour was a great way to experience more of the park, and we were excited to see such a wide variety of wildlife.
The Everglades is known for being a vast grassy swampland, and it is that, but as we learned, it’s also much more. We hoped we would catch a glimpse of a gator, but we never dreamed we would see both alligators and crocodiles in abundance, and some just 15-20 feet away from us. The manatees and dolphins were also a nice surprise. We enjoyed this park more than we expected, even if it was a bit hot and humid. We’re just glad we made it here in April, as the Florida heat might have been too much for us in the summertime!
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