We spent two weeks in Homestead, Florida about 35 miles south of Miami.  Homestead is our jumping off point for two National Parks, Everglades and Biscayne.

Everglades National Park protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States, and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone.

Most national parks preserve unique geographic features; Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a river flowing 0.25 miles per day out of Lake Okeechobee, southwest into Florida Bay.  The park is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.  Thirty-six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles.  The ecosystems in Everglades National Park have suffered significantly from human activity, and restoration of the Everglades is a politically charged issue in South Florida

Driving to the park we saw several gators sunning themselves by the side of the water.

The Shark Valley entrance of the park has a 15 mile bike path that allows bikers to go at their own pace to take pictures and enjoy the wildlife.

Our post of Biscayne National Park should follow in a few weeks. We took some underwater pictures with a disposable camera that we have to get developed. We will be leaving this area of Florida on Tuesday and heading toward Gulf Shores, Alabama.