Big Cypress National Preserve is Everglades National Park’s immense and wild neighbor toward the north of Naples, Florida. The rough and rugged territory incorporates about 730,000 acres of untamed land of the freshwater Big Cypress Swamp, some portion of the bigger Everglades biological community, all waiting to be explored by hungry adventure-seekers such as yourself! Feast your eyes on captivating views on a drive with a well-informed ranger to get the most out of your visit. In the event that street conditions allow (consult an officer at the Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center or Oasis Visitor Center beforehand), take after the 24-mile Loop Road Scenic Drive (County Road 94) and feel that primal rush that kicks from the back of your spine that makes you feel that you have conquered nature itself!
The principally rocky drive takes you south and east through three districts, starting at Monroe Station which was once a Tamiami Trail service station, once bustling with people and economic activity in the 1920’s, and this ends at the 40-Mile Bend Check Station (so named in light of the fact that the building sits at a bend in the Tamiami Trail around 40 miles south of Miami).
Pro-tip: Step out of your car and don’t be hesitant to get wet. Stop at assigned pullouts, footpaths, and wildlife observation decks (with the exception of on FL-41), and climb the five-mile (round-trip) Fire Prairie Trail to investigate by walking.
Big Cypress fringes the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park toward the south, and other state and federally protected cypress forest in the west, with water from the Big Cypress streaming south and west into the seaside Ten Thousand Islands area of Everglades National Park. At the point when Everglades National Park was set up in 1947, Big Cypress was initially proposed to be incorporated; be that as it may, in light of the fact that the land had not been acquired from its private proprietors, Big Cypress was eventually discharged from the recreation center’s original framework.
Twelve camping areas in Big Cypress are custom fitted to engined vehicles, where visitors arranging stays that would last the night can stop their vehicles and RVs in assigned ranges. The southern end of the Florida National Scenic Trail is situated in Big Cypress, and gives climbing openings amid the winter months. For hardcore explorers who would like to brave in the deep and who wouldn’t fret getting their feet wet, climbing all through Big Cypress is pleasant in all seasons, with a large portion of the cypress nation more cordial to explorers than the thick sawgrass prairies of the focal Everglades. Probably the most wonderful swimming and strolling can be found in cypress strands and prairies between the Loop Road and the Tamiami Trail.
Trekking deep is all well and good but if you want to be ruler of the marshes, you must step in within the territory of its current ruler – the ferocious alligator. Since gators are found scattered in the areas and frequently massive in size, not to mention their razor-sharp teeth, swimming through the cypress territory requires consistent alertness. The preserve’s guest center offers an instructive video about the environment. Rangers frequently lead climbs in the dry winter months, and kayak excursions and bike visits. And once you’ve returned to civilization in one piece, only then can you have the glory and honor of having survived alligator territory.
