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Lat 25.3953° N
Long 80.5831° W
Elevation0 – 8 ft

Florida · Stamp 20 / 63

Everglades

National Park · Established 1934

A river of grass fifty miles wide and six inches deep, moving so slowly you can't see it move at all.

Area1,508,976 acres
TrailheadHomestead, Florida
Visitors1M / yr
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Live · Park open 24 hrs Alligators visible year-round, most active in dry season 1 active alert 84°F · humid, bring repellent Live layer, from the National Park Service
Best windowDec–Apr dry season · wildlife concentrates near water Getting there45 min from Miami · 1.5 hr from Fort Lauderdale Fee$30 / vehicle · 7 days
★★★★★ 4.8 from 5 travelers 1 visitor stories 1M annual visitors Grounded in live NPS data
Everglades · Mile 01 · The Story

A river fifty miles wide,
six inches deep.

Most rivers have banks you can point to. The Everglades doesn't work that way: water sheets slowly south from Lake Okeechobee across a nearly flat limestone shelf, spread so wide and so shallow that early surveyors didn't recognize it as a river at all. Marjory Stoneman Douglas gave it the name that stuck, calling it a river of grass, and the description is more literal than poetic. The whole ecosystem depends on that slow, wide, shallow flow, and decades of draining and diking for agriculture nearly broke it before restoration efforts began clawing pieces of it back.

What that flow supports is one of the largest concentrations of wading birds and alligators in North America, alongside the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles coexist. The dry season, roughly December through April, concentrates wildlife around the remaining water and makes it the best time to see almost everything the park is known for.

Come for the alligators sunning six feet from a boardwalk. Stay for the scale of a landscape that genuinely has no edge you can see. Read the story, trust the live data above for what is open today, and when you leave, collect the stamp.

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“
There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas · The Everglades: River of Grass, 1947
Shark Valley · The Sawgrass Prairie
"The mountains are calling and I must go."
John Muir
Everglades · Mile 02 · The Essentials

Best Things to Do in the Everglades

Six ways to spend your time, from an alligator-lined boardwalk to a fifteen-mile bike loop deep into the sawgrass.

Do

Walk the Anhinga Trail

A short boardwalk over a slough where alligators, turtles, and anhingas gather close enough to watch without binoculars.

The signature walk
Do

Bike the Shark Valley loop

A flat 15-mile paved loop through open sawgrass prairie, rentals available at the entrance, tram tours if you'd rather not pedal.

Half day · all levels
See

Manatees and crocodiles at Flamingo

The only place on Earth where alligators and American crocodiles coexist, at the park's remote southern end.

Half day · boat tours
Explore

Mahogany Hammock

A boardwalk into a dense hardwood hammock built around one of the largest mahogany trees in the country.

Everyone · 20 min
See

Sunset at Pa-hay-okee Overlook

A short walk to an elevated view over the sawgrass river of grass, especially striking in the last hour of light.

Everyone · 20 min
Do

Airboat or kayak the backcountry

Guided tours from outside the park reach mangrove tunnels and open water inaccessible on foot.

Half day · guided
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Plan Your Everglades Trip

Answer a few questions right here — we'll map your day, stop by stop, with a route, timings, weather, and a packing checklist grounded in real park data. No account, no leaving this page.

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Field-guide posters and the passport book, from our shop.
When the Crowds ComeMonthly visitors · tap a year
Illustrative shape · wires to official NPS visitation stats · summer peaks shown in gold
Sunset Over the River of Grass
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir
Everglades · Mile 03 · Trails & Viewpoints

Best Hikes in the Everglades, by Difficulty

Every trail rated honestly, with distance, climb, and a note on where the alligators actually are.

Anhinga Trail

Easy
0.8 miflat~30 min

A paved and boardwalk loop over a slough with reliably close alligator, turtle, and wading-bird sightings. No permit.

Gumbo Limbo Trail

Easy
0.4 miflat~20 min

A shaded loop through a hardwood hammock right beside the Anhinga Trail, cooler and quieter than the open boardwalk. No permit.

Mahogany Hammock Trail

Easy
0.5 miflat~30 min

A boardwalk into a jungle-like hardwood hammock around one of the largest mahogany trees in the United States. No permit.

Pa-hay-okee Overlook Trail

Easy
0.3 miflat~15 min

A short boardwalk to an elevated platform over the open sawgrass prairie, one of the best wide views in the park. No permit.

Shark Valley Tram Road

Easy–Mod
15 miflat3–4 hr by bike

A flat paved loop through open sawgrass to a 45-foot observation tower, walkable, bikeable, or by guided tram. No permit.

Snake Bight Trail

Easy–Mod
1.6 miflat~1.5 hr

A shaded mangrove trail ending at a mudflat boardwalk popular with wading birds. Buggy; bring strong repellent. No permit.

No permit for day hikes or the Shark Valley loop · backcountry camping permits via Recreation.gov required for overnight canoe/kayak trips

Everglades National Park at a Glance
1  Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center
2  Anhinga Trail
3  Shark Valley Visitor Center
4  Flamingo Visitor Center
5  Mahogany Hammock Trail
6  Pa-hay-okee Overlook
Stops shown in visit order. Build a plan above and this map updates to your exact stops.
Everglades · Mile 04 · The River of Grass

Wildlife in the Everglades: Animals You Might See

Tap any animal to learn its story. Soon, the app will let you log what you spot and keep a life list for every park.

The park's signature animal, visible from nearly every boardwalk. Never approach, feed, or crowd one; they can move faster than people expect.

Prefers the brackish coastal waters near Flamingo. This is the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles share the same habitat.

A striking pink wading bird once hunted nearly to extinction for its feathers, now a conservation success story visible in the park's marshes.

A diving bird with no oil glands, so it swims fully submerged then perches with wings spread to dry, a common sight along its namesake trail.

Grazes the shallow coastal waters near Flamingo, most easily spotted from boat tours in the calm winter months.

One of the most endangered mammals in North America, with a small population in the park's remote pinelands. Sightings are exceptionally rare.

A large freshwater snail that anchors the marsh food web, its eggs a critical food source for the endangered snail kite.

Plant Life in the Everglades: What Grows Here

A sharp-edged sedge that dominates the open marsh, giving the Everglades the descriptive name River of Grass.

Three species line the park's coastal edges, their tangled roots filtering water and sheltering juvenile fish and birds.

One of the largest mahogany trees in the United States grows in the tropical hardwood hammock that shares its name.

Grow attached to tree branches rather than soil, drawing moisture and nutrients from the humid air of the hardwood hammocks.

Nicknamed for its peeling red bark, said to resemble a sunburned tourist. A common hammock tree throughout South Florida.

Grows in the deeper freshwater sloughs, its knobby knees rising above the waterline in the park's cypress domes and strands.

Fun Facts About the Everglades

Fact 01

The Everglades is the only ecosystem on Earth where alligators and crocodiles coexist naturally in the wild.

Fact 02

The park is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance, one of few places to hold all three.

Fact 03

Water moves through the sawgrass marsh at roughly a quarter mile per day, so slow the flow is imperceptible without instruments.

Fact 04

Marjory Stoneman Douglas's 1947 book The Everglades: River of Grass reframed the swamp as a river, reshaping public support for its protection.

Everglades · Provisions
Gear for this parkvia AvantLink
Insect repellent (essential)REI
Wide-brim sun hatBackcountry
Polarized sunglassesOsprey
Stay nearbyvia Hipcamp
Sites near Homestead
Fifteen minutes from the main entrance, palm shade included, from $28 a night.
Free Everglades checklistdigital · $0
The printable trail and packing checklist in the field-guide style. Take it, join the trail list.
Everglades · Mile 05 · From the Field Journal

Go Deeper on the Everglades

Stories, guides, and hard-won tips from the trail. The full Everglades deep dive lives on the journal.

Wildlife

Alligators vs. Crocodiles: How to Tell Them Apart in the Glades

Read the guide →
Trail Guide

Biking the Shark Valley Loop: What to Expect

Read the guide →
Itinerary

2 Perfect Days in the Everglades: Boardwalks to Backcountry

Read the guide →
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Free Everglades checklist
The printable trail and packing list, in the field-guide style.
★EvergladesPark Hub · Collected
Your passport

One stamp,
one story.

Log the visit, keep your story, and watch the map of all sixty-three fill in behind you. Every stamp has a keepsake worth holding.

Everglades · Mile 06 · Where to Next

Keep the Journey Going

The collection

All 63 Parks

See the full map and track every stamp you have earned.

View the map → Plan

Build a Trip

Turn the Everglades into a trip with a custom, day-by-day itinerary.

Start planning → Go deeper

The Everglades Deep Dive

The long-form guide: every trail, season, and secret, on the journal.

Read it → Explore more

63 Parks, One Map

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Forty-three parks remain
"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section... they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona."
Stephen Mather · first director of the National Park Service
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