My suggestion for a first trip to Florida would be Everglades National Park. Yeah, it seems obvious, but there is nowhere else that will give you such a broad overview of Florida habitats. The Everglades offers both tranquil river paddling and protected ocean routes, and the range of scenery varies from sawgrass "prairies" to mangrove estuaries.

	Jonathan Hanson Jonathan Hanson Jonathan Hanson is a writer whose lifelong appreciation of nature shows up frequently in his work. Meet Jonathan Previous Answers

Everglades National Park encompasses nearly one and a half million acres. But it is the tangled labyrinth of islands and channels along the coast that attracts canoeists and sea kayakers, especially the 100-mile-long Wilderness Waterway, which meanders between Everglades City in the northwest and Flamingo in the southeast. The Wilderness Waterway begins in the Ten Thousand Islands area, skirts sections of open coast before probing inland up slow river channels, then crosses Oyster Bay, Whitewater Bay, and little Coot Bay before exiting the Buttonwood Canal to Flamingo. (It can, of course, be traveled in the opposite direction as well). The route is an excellent one, since it takes in most of the Everglades habitats, as well as stretches of both fresh and salt water. Along the way, the National Park Service has erected nearly 50 campsites, ranging from simple beach clearings to sturdy wood platforms on stilts, called chickees, with outhouse facilities.

Fortunately for misanthropic paddlers like myself, you're not restricted to the Wilderness Waterway (which, incidentally, is also open to powerboats). There are literally thousands of possible routes among the channels and islands. And for independent exploration, sea kayakers have a definite advantage over canoeists, since we can safely challenge the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico to reach dozens of offshore islands. Take a right instead of a left when you paddle out of Everglades City and you'll be in the Ten Thousand Islands chain. It's less traveled than the waterway, and easier to get away from powerboats. Even here, however, the National Park Service maintains scattered campsites; the visitor's center can tell you where camping is allowed. But you're free to land anywhere to explore.

	The Everglades Learn more about Florida's phenomenal protected lands on GORP's Everglades National Park pages. Be sure to check out the many paddling opportunities.

Paddling among these islands will give you a brief introduction to how vital mangrove islands and estuaries are to the overall health of tropical coastlines. The tenacious stilt-like roots of the red mangrove stabilize fragile mud shorelines and serve as a breakwater to rough seas, providing shelter for dozens of aquatic species, and vital breeding and nursery territory to many others. Birds nest in the canopies of the trees, and millions of invertebrates forage among the branches. Leaves falling into the water provide nutrients for microscopic bottom dwellers, which are primary links in the food chain. The diversity is easy to see while skirting a group of mangroves in shallow water, as hundreds of small fish and crustaceans zip back into the tangled roots.

You need a permit for overnight stays in the park; they are available at the visitor's center. The best time to paddle the Everglades is from mid-December through early May. Summer is hot and humid and plagued with mosquitoes.

Good luck and have fun,

—Jonathan

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