Monday, July 26, 2010

Hike America - The Everglades

Pa-Hy-Okee is what the Miccosukee Indians named the area that is now known as The Everglades. The word means Grassy Waters. In the 1940s, they were given another moniker by General Stoneman Douglas, who wanted to attract public attention to preserve the area.

He called them The River of Grass. Finally, the twenty-two thousand mile area was declared Everglades State Park in 1947.

The Everglades is a fifty-mile-wide freshwater river that empties into Florida Bay in the Gulf of Mexico and possesses a depth of only a few inches at any point. The area is home to a variety of interesting flora, such as slash pines, dwarf cypress trees, and unique species of palm trees.

But, the real treats are the fauna who make this land egrets home. Egrets, herons, various other waterbirds, both white and brown pelicans, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, bald eagles, Cape Sable sparrows, short-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, and Florida mangrove cuckoos, raccoons, opossums, skunks, armadillos, American alligators, Florida panthers, a rare species of crocodile, round-tail muskrats, and many turtle species can be observed by visitors to the park.

Since hiking is the best way to experience this place, there are a number of trails. The Slash Pine and Loop Trails cut through an area of the high pinelands and feature over two-hundred distinct species of plants.

Thirty of these have never been found anywhere else on the face of the planet. A great feature of these easy trails is that, if they receive permission from the park ranger, hikers can actually set up camp on them.

Hikers looking for a more strenuous trail will want to try the Coastal Prairie Trail. Stretching fifteen miles, this trail is about twice as long as the Slash Pine Trail. Unlike Slash Pine and Loop, kiers can camp on this trail without receiving the permission of the park ranger, but only at Clubhouse Beach.

Clubhouse Beach Sits at the end of the trail and still boasts the foundation of a clubhouse that was built in 1912. Campers should be aware that this site does not have many facilities and has no potable water.

The Everglades National Park is a great place to hike and reason enough for travelers to take holidays to Miami


By : Scott_Amundson

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