Exploring the Everglades

Location:
United States

kayak, Florida, Everglades

By Paul

Exploring the Everglades

“My advice is to let every discontented man make a trip through the Everglades; if it don’t kill, it will certainly cure him.” Alonzo Church, 1892, who crossed the Everglades between Fort Myers and Miami.

I’m sitting on a vast beach, a burning fire shielding me from the cold and for miles around me there is not a single person. A light breeze keeps the mosquitoes away, the stars sparkle in the clear night sky and the waves babble quietly ashore. I roast some fish that I had caught earlier that day and sip some instant wine from a mug. I indulge myself in memories of other trips and enjoy the raw loneliness of this place. I have kayaked a week to get here, a beach somewhere in the middle of the Everglades, a place faraway from any civilization.

As always when I’m visiting a National Park in the US I’m surprised that you can spend weeks at a time in the back country without meeting a single person. This time I actually met two people, people who go fishing in the Everglades on the weekends. The first treated me to some cold beer and the second to some excellent grilled Snook (famous and delicious fish). But these encounters were a welcomed break from days of complete solitude in the vast jungle of mangroves and small keys.

The Everglades National Park covers a large portion of the tip of Florida, further south than any place in the US. For a long time it was regarded as a place of complete inhospitality and was only inhabited by the Seminoles, a mixture of American Indian tribes that were driven down here from the settlers in the 18th century. The white settler tried to remove them in two wars at the start of the 19th century but were defeated by the Indians and nature. The Seminoles never surrendered to the US government, making them the only tribe never signing a formal peace treaty. They call themselves the "Unconquered People."

Staying overnight in one of the ground campsites, essentially a pile of sea shells to elevate my tent a feet above the waterline, I get a feeling how tough life down here has been. The thick vegetation shrinking on to me from all sites, the mosquitoes attacking me ruthlessly and the eyes of an alligator glowing in the light of my flashlight. Everyday a struggle to keep alive and to wrest some fruits from the ground.

Other nights I pitched my tent on secluded beaches or on wooden platforms in the water, so called Chickees. On these little islands I felt very safe and protected, unreachable for the alligators and raccoons, your own piece of land. But being surprised by a thunderstorm I struggled to tie my tent firmly to the platform before a strong gust blew me into the water, suddenly I was very exposed.

The Everglades are also the largest area in the lower 48 states without a road. The only means of transportation are boats and crossing the park takes at least a day with a motor boat and a lot longer with a kayak. The places surrounding the two visitor centers Flamingo and Gulf Coast might be a bit busy on weekends, but after a day or so you are completely on your own, navigating the maze of small and wide channels, fighting the currents from the tides, relaxing on nice sandy beaches, watching the dolphins playing around your boat, getting a glimpse of an alligator, admiring the eagles catching fish, catching some fish yourself and just totally enjoying this strange world.

Further Information

Travel tips: Reaching the Everglads without a car can be difficult, plan carefully.

Bring everything you need with you, as obtaining things locally can be difficult.

Must see/do at this place: There are no special must do's, but make sure you have time to spend here.

You should avoid here: Do not go during the wet season (May-Nov)