Route #9 Everglades National Park - Flamingo

This route takes place entirely within Everglades National Park, following the axis that connects the interior of the park with Flamingo, at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. The route crosses a landscape dominated by sawgrass, mangroves, and broad expanses of water where human presence is minimal and strictly regulated.

For decades, Flamingo was a strategic point for fishing, hunting, and navigation in Florida Bay. Before the creation of the national park, the area was intermittently inhabited by communities devoted to the exploitation of natural resources, as well as by park rangers and scientists who studied this fragile ecosystem.

Along the route, infrastructure is limited to a single elevated roadway and to former facilities now abandoned or unused, bearing witness to past attempts to make an extremely hostile environment habitable. Silence, wind, and wildlife define one of the most isolated experiences in South Florida.

The complete route and its historical context are included in Discovering Florida – Volume 1.