The Everglades From Flamingo: Where the Road Ends

38 miles from the Ernest Coe Visitor Center to Flamingo, where the road ends and Florida Bay begins. The drive is the Everglades in cross-section: sawgrass prairie, cypress domes, pine rockland, mangrove forest, saltwater flats. Each ecosystem transitioning with the logic of a landscape never designed for speed.

Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm: alligators within arm's reach, anhingas spearing fish like small gothic umbrellas. Pa-hay-okee Overlook: the River of Grass stretching to every horizon in flatness so absolute the sky feels dome-shaped. Flamingo at the end: the beginning of a thousand square miles of backcountry accessible only by boat. The Nine Mile Pond canoe trail through mangrove tunnels is the best half-day paddle — the silence on the water at midday is the Everglades' truest offering.

$30 per vehicle, valid seven days. Dry season (Dec-April) for concentrated wildlife and manageable bugs. Full day if you stop where you should.