Everglades National Park Self Guided Driving Audio Tour

Welcome to your tour of the Everglades! This unique, delicate ecosystem is unlike anywhere else on earth. Get ready to explore this remarkable place, learn about its history, and find out what the future may hold for the Everglades. Note: This 48+ mile-long tour covers the essentials of the Everglades in 3-4 hours.

Coming up soon is the Everglades Outpost, a wildlife rescue where you can meet over 200 exotic animals. In 1991, Bob and Barbara Freer took it upon themselves to rescue and rehabilitate animals which would otherwise be put down. They started with small birds and raccoons, but soon expanded to camels, lemurs, big cats, and more! Most of these animals were kept as illegal exotic pets before entering the Freers’ care, and the goal is always to release them back into their original habitats.

Looking for a glimpse of civilization? You’ll find it just ahead, at the Flamingo Visitor Center. This comprehensive visitor center has all the usual trappings you’d expect, like snacks, restrooms, and an information booth, but it also offers quite a bit more. Want to rent a canoe or kayak? They’ve got them! How about a bicycle? That too!

Coming up is a short detour to the Gumbo Limbo Trail. Gumbo Limbo is only a half-mile long. It’s paved, shaded, and winds through a thick grove of hardwood trees and lush ferns. It is easy and can be completed in about 15 minutes.

Coming up is a short detour to the Anhinga Trails, the park’s most popular hikes. Anhinga is a mile-long boardwalk that loops through a robust sawgrass marsh. If you’re hoping to see some wetlands wildlife, this is the trail for you.

Just ahead is a quick detour to the Mahogany Hammock Trail. This boardwalk trail winds a half-mile through a dense jungle of hardwood trees, and takes about 10 minutes to complete. But there’s more than just lush greenery on display here. The trail is also home to the largest living mahogany tree in the entire United States!

Throughout the early 1900s, large swaths of the Everglades were drained, filled in, and turned into agricultural or residential land. Hunting of the local wildlife was rampant and unchecked. It seemed only a matter of time before the entire wetland would be wiped off the face of the earth.

Coming up soon is Pa-Hay-Okee Lookout Tower. Accessible via a short boardwalk, this observation platform affords visitors panoramic views of the “river of grass” that makes up much of the Everglades. It’s a quick, 5-minute detour, and well worth a stop.

Just ahead is Pineland Trail, where you can get up close with the most endangered ecosystem in the Everglades. This half-mile, paved loop runs through a forest of lush green pines, palmettos, and wildflowers. It feels like strolling through a primordial rainforest!

Earnest F. Coe may be called the Father of the Everglades, but he didn’t create this park all by himself. He had help, especially from Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Douglas worked as a columnist for the Miami Herald and was known for her fiery advocacy for women’s rights, racial justice, and conservation. She joined Coe’s fight in the 1920s and put her facility with language to work in defense of the Everglades. She wrote columns to capture the public imagination and wrote letters to Congress making her case.

Up ahead is Nine Mile Pond Trail. One crucial thing sets this trail apart from others: It’s not on land! This is a canoe trail. Visitors with boats can paddle the 5-mile loop through shallow, grassy marsh, not just taking in the natural scenery from a distance, but actually passing through it! The water levels are generally high enough in the fall and winter, though conditions can vary in the case of a drought.

Up next is Snake Bight Trail. Don’t let the name scare you. That’s B-I-G-H-T, not B-I-T-E. A bight is a kind of bay, and that’s exactly what you’ll find here. This 3.6-mile out-and-back trail ventures through lush, shaded jungle before opening out onto a scenic bay. It takes about an hour to walk on average, but it’s also open to bikes with the exception of the brief boardwalk portion at the end.

Coming up soon is Christian Point Trail. If you’re looking to get away from the crowds a little, this might be the trail for you, as it’s not one of the more popular ones in the park. It’s slightly more challenging than some other trails in the park, but still ranks only at a moderate difficulty. The whole thing is four miles round trip, and leads to another wide-open view of the shoreline accessible from Snake Bight Trail.

Coming up is West Lake Trail. This half-mile boardwalk leads out to West Lake and offers clear views across the water. It takes about 10 minutes to walk, and is a great stop for anyone hoping to see some of the park’s marine wildlife. The water isn’t particularly clear, but see if you can spot the telltale ripples of an alligator or crocodile swimming across the lake! If you were a deer, would you be able to see it approaching in time to escape?

Just ahead is the Eco Pond Trail. If you’ve been dying to see more Everglades wildlife, this is the perfect stop for you. This half-mile trail loops around a small pond that’s almost always packed with wading birds, ducks, songbirds, and more. Plus, keep an eye on the waters for softshell turtles and alligators!