Everglades National Park Trip Review

Not sure I've seen anything on here about the everglades so happy to share my quick day trip today. I had never been to the everglades so opted to take the drive west of Miami and see what the park has to offer. Due to the sheer size of the Everglades, I found a pretty cool looking spot called the Shark Valley Observation Tower LINK

On their webpage LINK, I found you could rent bikes for $25 for the day (reserved online) or spend the same on a 2 hour tram ride. I opted for the bikes as it was 15 miles roundtrip, figured it'd be a good workout. The gates opened at 8:30am and I got there just after that time with already a line of cars waiting to get in. Was able to easily get a parking spot and get my bike rental.



The bike path is paved which made it super easy to start the journey



Was pretty cool on the path if you looked to the right or left you could see gators just sunning in the brush right next to the path. They didn't bother anyone. Found two of them laying next to one another, would say most were small to medium sized



The path itself is pretty desolate. I felt like the only one within parts of the 7.5 mile stretch to the observation tower. Took about an hour to get out there



Pretty nice views from up top





Managed to snag this picture of a hawk taking off. I'm sure someone here can tell us what type it is from the zoomed in potato lens



After a twenty minute break, went back to the bike and saw this cute crocodile sunning. I had heard there were crocs in the everglades, but didn't expect to see one today



Got back on the bike and started the 7.5 mile journey the other way. This was a problem as it was directly into the wind the entire time with full exposure to the elements. Nice views though!



Got to see a cool heron



Then this fatty



Overall took about 1.5 hours to get back given the wind and my legs struggling a bit. Turned the bike in and saw there was a wait for the tram + bike rental. Spent roughly 3 hours there but if the wind wasn't as bad I'd probably have spent longer. It looks like the rest of the everglades is further south. I passed by a ton of airboat tours which looked like fun.

In any case, hope others on here are able to make it out to the everglades if they get a chance