Everglades National Park
40001 State Road 9336, Homestead, 305/242-7700, www.nps.gov/ever/visit/canoe.htm
Paddling Florida's best-known natural treasure provides encounters with all its familiar icons: alligators, wading birds, cypress trees, manatees, mangroves and, of course, mosquitoes. This familiarity doesn't breed indifference, however. A canoe or kayak trip in the park is nothing short of spectacular, a stirring reminder that South Florida has more to offer than condominium towers, transplanted Northerners and Hummer-clogged highways. The park offers paddlers a host of trails, each with its own opportunities and challenges. They vary in length and difficulty, from the 9-Mile Pond Loop, an inland trip through a shallow sawgrass marsh rife with gators, to Hell's Bay Trail, an 11-mile-round-trip course through mangrove creeks and ponds so named because old-time Floridians considered it hell to enter, hell to leave. Our favorite trip is in the open waters of Florida Bay, a saltwater paradise that offers ample chances to spot dolphins, ospreys, sharks, eagles, tarpon and even crocodiles. Put in at the boat dock near the Flamingo Visitors Center and paddle out to Bradley Key, the only easily accessible island on which you can land. The weather changes rapidly out on the bay, so pack accordingly and always consult a tide chart before disembarking.
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