A 1928 Road Straight Through the River of Grass

The Tamiami Trail is the road the experts said could not be built: thirteen years of dredges and dynamite through flooded limestone, finished in 1928 as the first paved link between Tampa and Miami, its name a simple splice of the two. The glory stretch is the run between Miami and Naples, where US 41 crosses the northern edge of Everglades National Park, the full width of Big Cypress National Preserve, and the orchid swamps of Fakahatchee Strand. The borrow canal dug to build the roadbed now runs alongside as a linear wildlife show: alligators stacked on the banks, anhingas drying their wings, herons stalking the shallows, all watched from the driver's seat at 55 mph. The scenery turns like chapters: Little Havana's murals, then open sawgrass prairie to the horizon, then dwarf cypress hung with bromeliads, then mangroves at the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands, and finally the polished palms of Naples. No other American drive crosses a wilderness this strange with this little effort.

Key Stops

Little Havana (Calle Ocho), Miami. The Trail's urban prologue along SW 8th Street: a Cuban coffee window, cigar rollers, and Domino Park. Fuel the car and yourself here; the wilderness starts fast beyond Krome Avenue.

Shark Valley Visitor Center (Everglades National Park). The single best window on the River of Grass: a 15-mile loop into the sawgrass ending at a 65-foot observation tower with a 360-degree panorama. Ride the narrated tram or rent a bike; gators line the loop in winter. Park entrance fee applies, and trams book out in season.

Miccosukee Indian Village. The cultural heart of the Trail: the Miccosukee Tribe's museum, craft demonstrations, and airboat rides into the family camps out in the grass. The tribe has lived in these wetlands since the Seminole Wars.

Loop Road (CR 94). The optional 24-mile backcountry detour: a narrow, mostly gravel lane under cypress canopy with superb close-range wildlife. Passable for ordinary cars in dry weather; ask at Oasis about conditions after rain.

Oasis Visitor Center (Big Cypress National Preserve). The halfway orientation stop: exhibits on the preserve, rangers with current wildlife news, and a canal-side boardwalk where some of the Trail's biggest alligators laze within feet of the rail.

detour in Big Cypress if time allows.

Kirby Storter Roadside Park. The essential free stop: a half-mile wheelchair-friendly boardwalk that leaves the picnic tables and dead-ends deep in a cypress dome, with gators, wading birds, and sometimes otters below the planks.

H.P. Williams Roadside Park and Turner River Road. A small wayside with a boardwalk over gator-rich water at the corner of Turner River Road, the best unpaved wildlife-watching

Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe and the Skunk Ape Headquarters. Lunch and legend, a minute apart: Joanie's funky 1987 roadhouse for blue crab and gator bites, and the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters for the Everglades' answer to Bigfoot.

Ochopee Post Office. The smallest post office in the United States, a former irrigation-pipe shed of about 60 square feet and the only building in downtown Ochopee. Mail a postcard; the postmark is the souvenir.

Everglades City and the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. A short spur on CR 29: Florida's stone crab capital, the Museum of the Everglades, and boat tours into the Ten Thousand Islands mangrove maze. The overnight stop if you make it two days.

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk). The "Amazon of North America": a boardwalk into the largest strand swamp on the continent, famous for royal palms, bald eagles, and the wild ghost orchids of orchid-thief lore.

Collier-Seminole State Park and Naples. The mangrove-fringed park holds one of the walking dredges that dug the Trail, a fitting last exhibit. Then the finale: Fifth Avenue South and a Gulf sunset from Naples Pier.

Driving Tips

Expect dead zones in cell coverage. Long stretches of Big Cypress have no signal: download offline maps before you start and tell someone your plan if you take Loop Road.

Drive it in daylight. Night driving is when Florida panthers and other wildlife cross: Big Cypress posts reduced nighttime speed limits in panther zones, and they are enforced for good reason.

Give alligators their distance. They line the canal within feet of pull-offs: stay well back from the water's edge, never feed them (it is illegal and it kills the animal eventually), and keep pets in the car.

Come in the dry season for wildlife. December to April concentrates animals at the remaining water and keeps mosquitoes tolerable; in summer carry serious repellent and plan around the near-daily afternoon thunderstorms.

Book Shark Valley ahead. The tram sells out in season and the parking lot fills by mid morning in winter: reserve, arrive early, or rent bikes and ride the loop instead.

Check Loop Road conditions before committing. After heavy rain the gravel sections flood and rut: ordinary cars manage fine in dry spells, but ask rangers at Oasis first.

Carry water and sun protection. Shade is rare at the boardwalks and waysides, and the subtropical sun is strong even in January.

Make it a loop with Alligator Alley if returning to Miami. I-75 runs back across the Everglades an hour north: fast, fenced, and a striking contrast that makes you glad you came out on the Trail.

For more information visit: Big Cypress National Preserve (National Park Service)