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Everglades National Park preserves the southern portion of the Everglades (all south of Tamiami Trail), but represents only 20 % of the original wetland area. The Park covers 2,357 mi² (6,105 km²) and is a World Heritage Site. The only highway access to the main part is Florida State Road 9336 and its extension in the park, running 38 miles (61 km) from Florida City to the coast at Flamingo. Excluding the main visitor center and some smaller park facilities, there is no development in the park; this 1,296,500 acre (5,246 km²) area has been designated the Marjory Stoneman DouglasWilderness.
There are a number of car parks and trails within the Park, of which the most famous is the Anhinga Trail. This trail allows very close approach to birds such as herons and anhinga. The latter birds often perch on the rails of the boardwalk. The park has mosquitos year-round, and they can be a major problem in the summer, even with mosquito repellant.
In November 2005, Hurricane Wilma came across the tip of Florida and had devastating effects on the park. Heavy damage was sustained at the Flamingo area of the park. The visitor center, lodge, restaurant, and marina store were shut down, with the area closed off to all visitors not escorted by a park ranger. As of March 14, 2006 the Marina Store, Visitor Center, and boat ramps are now open. The Lodge, Flamingo Restaurant, and Buttonwood Cafe still remain closed. Updates can be found on the Everglades National Park website.
In the southeastern section of the park is the Earnest F. Coe Visitor Center, the park headquarters. It is located just to the west of Homestead and Florida City on state road 9336. Four miles to the west of the headquarters is the Royal Palm Visitor center. The general area of Royal Palm and the headquarters is nestled in a pineland area, as are the Hidden Lake Education and Daniel Beard Centers a few miles to the west. The large Taylor Slough runs from Royal Palm to Florida Bay. To the west of Royal Palm is also Long Pine Key. Long Pine Key (which is not actually an island) is located about four miles from Royal Palm on 9336 and is a prominent camping area in the forest like pineland area. Another four miles to the west on 9336 is the Pahayokee Overlook, which is a raised observation platform that overlooks the park to the north.
Continuing south, 9336 runs through a large cypress swamp. Just on the outside edge of this swamp is Mahogany Hammock, a trail located twenty miles from the headquarters, deep in the park. Even farther south, one comes into the coastal mangrove swamps. Hidden in the thousands of mangrove trees are hundreds of small lakes bay and rivers that empty into the Florida Straits. The swampy estuaries in this area are the only place in the U.S., aside from Louisiana, where crocodiles can be found, although they are very rare. Also in these areas are manatees, which are often spotted at the surface on cool autumn mornings. At the very end of 9336 is the Flamingo Visitor Center, the farthest south visitor center in the park. It is located on the arid coastal prairie and lies just to the north of Florida Bay. Trails leading from Flamingo go west onto Cape Sable a cape in the extreme southwestern part of Florida. Also leading from Flamingo is the 99 mile Wilderness Waterway, a canoe trip from Flamingo in the south to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in the north. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center serves as a visitor center for both the northwestern part of the everglades and the neighboring Big Cypress National Preserve.
The view from the Shark Valley Tower
In the northern section of the park, the most prominent area is the Shark Valley Visitor Center. A tram road which starts and ends at this center extends about seven miles from the northeastern border of the park into the Shark River Slough, an extensive freshwater slough that flows from Lake Okeechobee (north of the park) to the southwestern coast of Florida. The Shark River Slough is dotted with hundreds of small, jungle-like hardwood hammocks, which are home to many of the Everglades mammals and raptors.
The general Shark Valley area is perhaps what most visitors think of when they think of the everglades, as it is surrounded by a seemingly eternity of sawgrass in all directions. Alligators and wading birds often come within feet of visitors, and occasionally, a lazy alligator will block the road. At the point in the Shark Valley tram road where it turns back north there is the Shark Valley Observation Tower, a sixty five foot tower that overlooks the sawgrass prairie to the south.
Flora
The soil of the islands is very fertile and is subject to frequent inundation, but gradually the water area is being replaced by land. The vegetation is luxuriant, the live oak, wild lemon, wild orange, cucumber, pawpaw, custard-apple and wild rubber trees being among the indigenous species; there are, besides, many varieties of wild flowers, the orchids being especially noteworthy. There are two seasons, wet and dry, but the climate is equable.
The otter, alligator and crocodile are found, also deer and the severely endangered Florida panther.
Image:Crocnest.JPG|an alligator nest
Image:Littleblueheronsmall.jpg|A little blue heron hunting near water on Anhinga Trail.
Image:Everglades_alligator_spring_2004_TT.jpg|An alligator swimming.
Image:Blue Heron.JPG|A great blue heron wading in a pond near Shark Valley.
Image:American Purple Gallinule walking.jpg|American Purple Gallinule
