Please help with suggestions for camping near the Everglades in October. Full hookups would be nice, but electricity is a must. Also, what should not be missed?! Thanks for the help.
GMC 2004 Sierra 2500HD 4x4 Ext Cab
2004 Zepplin Z241
Two CG's right in the national park, but no hookups. There's a nearby city owned CG, I believe in Homestead, with full hookups but it's by no means scenic, and that's an understatement. If you have a toad, you could park there & make day trips into the Glades, but that'll be lots of gas.
Maybe instead of going right into the NP, you might look at taking the Tamiami Trail, Route 41. Full hookup camping available enroute plus lots to see. Don't miss the Observation Tower hike or bike, the visitor center for gators and there's a little known great small cg near Monroe Station, about halfway across the state.
Last winter I stayed at Southern Comfort RV Park in Homestead. Clean, but nothing special unless you like their mid-park Tiki Bar with karaoke and even a local entertainer some nights. Don't get too close if you want a little quiet at night!
Anyway, this allowed me to hit the southeastern part of the park, but as the previous poster mentioned, seems the best viewing is on the tour to the observation tower off route 41. If you go that way, another thing I found interesting was a drive down Loop Road - a gravel road through a swampy area. Drive slow and stop at culverts where the vegetation breaks. You should see many alligators amongst the cypress.
You can go further over to Everglades City and take a boat tour of the outer mangrove islands. If over by Homestead, you may want to go 10 miles east to check out Biscayne bay. At certain times they may have glass-bottom boat tours there. Homestead is also home to the Miami/Homestead speedway, so if so inclined there could be some races or just some practices you could go see.
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Part of what is actually defined as "The Everglades" is the Big Cypress National Preserve. The Everglades Wildlife Mgt Area forms its eastern border and both the Gulf and Everglades National Park form the southern border. US41 (Tamiami Tr) bisects it E/W and I-75 (Alligator Alley) basically is the northern boundry. There are 5-6 cgs in Big Cypress and one of them, Midway CG, has electric hookups with drinking water and a dump station. It is located on the south side of US41 about 2 miles east of the Big Cypress Visitor Center, 25 miles east of SR29 (road to Everglades City) and 15 miles west of the Everglades Nat'l Park's Shark Valley Loop. More info here. A really fun area to explore and a good base camp.
About a mile or so either west or east of Midway is a northbound gravel road and about a mile north is an area used by Preserve volunteers to provide educational experiences/walking tours to the S. FL grade school kids. It provides you with a great natural area to take off your shoes and wade through the swamp - the Everglades the way it really is - sandy bottom and you can feel the southbound current in the 4-5" deep grassy/treed water and see some of the more interesting plants etc. Between SR29 and Midway, on both sides of Tamiami Trail, you will see a nesting/feeding area for the roseatte spoonbill - a most unusual bird. Throughout the area you'll see the different species of heron and egret and ahingas (commorants) drying their wings while resting on tree branches or power lines. On a sunny day, watch the canals along side Tamiami Trail between Midway and SR 29 plus 10 miles further west and you should have no trouble counting 50-100 gators swimming or sunning themselves on the banks.
If you are looking for full service campgrounds in 'civilization' but within an easy drive of all of the Everglades etc., you can also look at one of the many full hookup parks in Naples. Some pix of our park there are linked in my sig.
Quote: There's a nearby city owned CG, I believe in Homestead, with full hookups but it's by no means scenic, and that's an understatement.
That is the City of Florida City cg. Please don't go there We parked there to go visit friends in Key Largo for the weekend - took the toad. Our original plan was to have stayed in the area maybe a week, but one look at that place was enough. We paid just for the weekend and then were out of there as soon as we came back from Key Largo.
It was also filthy and the hookups had no rhyme nor reason.
Pat
May the road rise with you, the wind be always at your back.
avan wrote: Midway CG, has electric hookups with drinking water and a dump station. It is located on the south side of US41 about 2 miles east of the Big Cypress Visitor Center, 25 miles east of SR29 (road to Everglades City) and 15 miles west of the Everglades Nat'l Park's Shark Valley Loop.
Unless they have really cleaned this CG up, I would not kennel a dog there overnight, let alone my family. The last time we were there it was full of RVs left over from the 60's with no maintenance, overgrown weeds and grass in the sites, mud to drive through to get to a site and some of the worst looking individuals I had ever encountered in my 25 years as a LEO. Thanks, but NO THANKS IMHO.
Bob & Betsy - USN Ret'd '78 & FL LEO Ret'd '03 FMCA #F203528 '05 HR Endeavor, 40PRQ w/400 Cummins - With -'05 GMC Sierra LT, CC Z-71, the pusher '07 Arctic Cat 500A & Wilderness Kayak, riding in the pusher - Our Current Location
avan wrote: Midway CG, has electric hookups with drinking water and a dump station. It is located on the south side of US41 about 2 miles east of the Big Cypress Visitor Center, 25 miles east of SR29 (road to Everglades City) and 15 miles west of the Everglades Nat'l Park's Shark Valley Loop.
Unless they have really cleaned this CG up, I would not kennel a dog there overnight, let alone my family. The last time we were there it was full of RVs left over from the 60's with no maintenance, overgrown weeds and grass in the sites, mud to drive through to get to a site and some of the worst looking individuals I had ever encountered in my 25 years as a LEO. Thanks, but NO THANKS IMHO.
I don't know what CG your talking about but its NOT Midway. Midway is a very nice Federal CG in the Big Cypress Swamp. You can only stay 2 wks It has paved roads and pads. We like to go there for our shakedown cruises.
avan wrote: Midway CG, has electric hookups with drinking water and a dump station. It is located on the south side of US41 about 2 miles east of the Big Cypress Visitor Center, 25 miles east of SR29 (road to Everglades City) and 15 miles west of the Everglades Nat'l Park's Shark Valley Loop.
Unless they have really cleaned this CG up, I would not kennel a dog there overnight, let alone my family. The last time we were there it was full of RVs left over from the 60's with no maintenance, overgrown weeds and grass in the sites, mud to drive through to get to a site and some of the worst looking individuals I had ever encountered in my 25 years as a LEO. Thanks, but NO THANKS IMHO.
I don't know what CG your talking about but its NOT Midway. Midway is a very nice Federal CG in the Big Cypress Swamp. You can only stay 2 wks It has paved roads and pads. We like to go there for our shakedown cruises.
I'm referring to the commercial CG that was at one time called Midway and had a bar associated with it, in the same general area, on the south side of the road. The NP CG I believe you're referring to, was not open as a public CG, but was used as a CG for their workampers when we were there. You are talking about the one on the south side of Rte 41 with the game check station at the entrance and the dump station up on top of the mound, correct?
Have never actually stayed at Midway but have driven through it, several times annually, for the past 6 yrs and have visited with friends and park volunteers that stayed there. Texan, your experience must have predated the past 6 yrs cause it's always been very pristine during those 6 yrs and I've always observed nice rigs there though I guess a nice rig doesn't necessarily equate to an endorsement. Thankfully though, I've never taken the character assessment, also implied by personal appearance, of a LEO as gospel truth either. If you had a doubt as to whether I was referring to a NP cg in my original post, I had provided a link.
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We parked there to go visit friends in Key Largo for the weekend - took the toad. Our original plan was to have stayed in the area maybe a week, but one look at that place was enough. We paid just for the weekend and then were out of there as soon as we came back from Key Largo. 
