Everglades National Park: Flamingo Road Trails (Blog Hike #240)

Trails: Pinelands, Pay-Hay-Okee, Mahogany Hammock, and West Bay Trails

Hike Location: Everglades National Park

Geographic Location: west of Florida City, FL (25.42312, -80.67951)

Length: 1.75 miles total at 4 different locations

Difficulty: 0/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: May 2008

Overview: A series of short interpretive hikes along the main park road to Flamingo.

Trail Information: http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/pine-island-trails.htm
Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=118322
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: These trails depart from the main park road.  Each trail has a separate parking area and trailhead easily found via the park road signs.  Driving from Florida City to Flamingo, you will pass the parking areas for these trails in the order listed above.

The hike: For my general comments on Everglades National Park, see the Anhinga Trail description.  These short trails are grouped into a single blog entry because they all depart from the main park road leading to Flamingo.  Separately these trails would not merit discussion, but taken together these trails give a good overview of the many habitats the Everglades has to offer.

            After passing Royal Palm while driving toward Flamingo, you will first come to the trailhead for the Pinelands Trail, which is located 7 miles into the park.  As its name suggests, this 0.5 mile paved loop trail leads through a grove of slash pine trees.  Start at the information board at the northwest end of the parking lot; you can go either direction around this short loop. 

Pinelands Trail

            For its entire distance the 40-foot slash pines comprise the canopy, while the understory is comprised of a dense covering of palmettos.  At some points the palmettos grow out over the trail, making the trail very narrow.  Also, you may notice some evidence of recent fires, likely the result of controlled burns conducted by the park in order to preserve this pinelands area.  If these burns were not carried out, the forest would soon revert to the cypress domes you see nearby.  Complete the loop and return to your car.

The next trail, located 6 miles past the Pinelands Trail, is the short 0.25 mile boardwalk trail to Payhayokee Overlook.  Depart from the information board at the west end of the parking lot and immediately find yourself on the boardwalk, which is made out of synthetic wood.  At first there may or may not be water depending on the time of year, but as you get closer to the raised observation platform, you will see some water under the boardwalk.

Observation platform, looking at Shark River Slough

Limestone bedrock near Shark River Slough

            The observation platform gives the best view in this section of Shark River Slough, the vast wetland prairie that gives the Everglades its nickname “The River of Grass.”  Indeed, this trail is located on the very southern edge of the slough, and looking north from the platform, the grasslands extend as far as the eye can see.  After observing the river of grass, continue around the boardwalk, keeping an eye out for wading birds or alligators to return to the parking lot and complete this trail.

The next trail is the Mahogany Hammock Trail, located another 7 miles past the Payhayokee Overlook and 20 miles past the park entrance.  This trail is another synthetic wood boardwalk, but at 0.5 miles it is somewhat longer than the previous one.  The boardwalk begins at an information board at the west end of the parking lot, crosses an arm of the Shark Valley Slough allowing additional views of the River of Grass, and enters a lush shady hammock on the other side. 

Boardwalk entering mahogany hammock

            Environments such as these form on land that is only a few inches higher than the surrounding slough.  While the slough is so moist that it only supports grass plant life, this higher land is considerably dryer and hence can support taller trees.  Mahogany trees are the tallest trees on these hammocks, hence the name of the trail, but they are closely rivaled by the red-barked gumbo limbo tree.  To early explorers and Seminole Indians, these hammocks provided much-needed shade and a dry area to sleep while traveling through the Everglades.  The trail forms a loop, so after completing the loop around the hammock, return back across Shark River Slough to complete the hike.

The last of the short trails in this section of the park is the 0.5 mile West Lake Trail; it is located only 7 miles north of Flamingo, the end of the park road.  The trail begins not at the lake but at an information board near the midpoint of the parking lot.  Most of the boardwalk trail is a shady, sultry trip through a dense mangrove forest.  Interpretive signs explain the differences between red, white, and black mangroves.

The boardwalk splits to form a loop that takes you a short way out into West Lake.  You will immediately notice a difference when you emerge from the mangrove forest onto the open lake.  While there is no longer any shade, a nice breeze will be present even if the air has been still on every other trail to this point, so you will probably find the section on the lake more pleasant that the one in the forest.  West Lake is saltwater, as you can tell by the corroding effect it has on the steel piers that support his section of the boardwalk (don’t worry: it was in no danger of collapse on my visit).  After watching the lake for shorebirds, retrace your steps back through the mangrove forest to complete the hike.

Boardwalk approaching West Lake