Freehiking Everglades National Park

"I went to Everglades National Park. There are hiking trails in two areas of the park, "Flamingo" and "Pinelands." The former is bug-infested (the no-see-ums are worse than the mosquitos). The latter, however, is surprisingly bug-free. I freehiked for more than two hours on two separate trails in the Pinelands area and only saw one mosquito (and no people). On one trail the forest was slender Florida pines and short palmetto trees. The other trail was a raised former road through swampy terrain with sawgrass and with lots of birds. National Park Service literature notes that alligators and snakes avoid humans so even off-trail hiking is permitted, but you would have to be willing to get pretty wet. I stayed on the trails and stayed dry.” - Milt