Everglades National Park

This park is the largest subtropical wilderness in USA and covers 1,509,000 acres (6,110 km2) The Everglades National Park was established in 1934 but it took 13 years to acquire land and funding and the park officially opened in 1947. It was established to protect the fragile wetland ecosystem which is created by a slow moving fresh water river that spans as much as 50 miles wide and varies from a few inches to a few feet in depth. The river begins in Lake Okeechobee and travels its 80 mile course to Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico where the fresh water meets and mixes with the salt producing brackish water which supports such life as the American Crocodile, great white heron, blue crab and many other species of fish, birds and other wildlife.

We stopped at the park Visitor Center where were advised to visit the Anhinga Trail if we were interested in viewing alligators, turtles and some of the parks bird population. Well it turns out the park warden sure knew his stuff. We saw as many as 20 or more alligators, some turtles, a striped snake and many types of birds.
Wood Stork.



Alligators.

Red Bellied Turtle.
Great White Heron.
Anhinga.

As we drove further into the park the vegetation changed from grassland to scatterings of baldcypress trees who loose their needles in winter to cope not with cold but with seasonal draught.

As we neared Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico the vegetation was much more lush.