Free Things to Do

Free Things To Do | Everglades City | Surrounding Parks & Preserves | Everglades Plants & Animals    

Free Things to do in the Everglades City Area include exploring a variety of unique ecosystems found in very few places in our world.

• Everglades City began in the late 1800's and was the county seat until 1960.
  
  
  • By walking around the mile round island one can still see many of the historical buildings built during the time the Tamiami Trail was being constructed. To mention just a few include the Old Laundry Building (1927), the Old County Courthouse (1928), old Railway Depot (1928), and the Ivey House (1928). Continue out to Chokoloskee to visit the Smallwood Store and Museum (a donation is required). Our gift shop has many historical books and a wonderful Walking Tour Book for Everglades City.
    
  • Geocaching is fun for the entire family. Many geocaches can be found in and around Everglades City.
  
  
• Smallest Post Office in the US is located outside of Everglades City on Hwy 41. Surprise your friends by mailing them a post card of this historical Post Office.
  
• Everglades National Park, established in 1947, is designated a Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site and a Wetland of International Importance.
  
  
  • The Gulf Coast Loop Visitor Center has beautiful displays about this unique area and excellent information about paddling the Wilderness Waterway.
    
  • Paddlers or boaters who are camping in the Everglades National Park need to arrange their back county permit upstairs and can spend a night and up to 14 days in the park along the wilderness waterway. Often seen are dolphins, manatees, shore birds and mangrove islands from the park office.
  
  
• Big Cypress Preserve gives visitors the opportunity to see the freshwater ecosystem including the cypress forests which are very unique to our area.
  
  
  • The Oasis visitor center has an informative movie and displays to help you learn about the area. You can also hike part of the Florida National Scenic Trail
    
  • Paddle the many canoe/kayak trails including the Turner River and Halfway Creek. The Ivey House provides shuttle services and rentals of canoes, kayaks, and camping equipment.
    
  • Stop at the designated stops along Hwy 41 to view our protected lands. Some of our favorite stops are HP Williams Roadside Park, Turner River Road, Kirby Storter Roadside Park, and Loop Road.
    
  • A new visitor center to be opened February 2010 will be located at Sea Grape Road, only 7 miles from the Ivey House. It is striving to be a GREEN facility which will generate its own power through solar panels. It should have an educational movie about this area and exhibits.
  
  
• Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park
  
  
  • Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk is a ¼ mile boardwalk which takes you deep into a cypress forest. The informative plaques along the way help you to understand this fragile ecosystem.
    
  • Jane's Scenic Drive brings travelers to scenic hiking trails dotted with orchids including the famous Ghost Orchid.
  
  
• Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge has hiking trails into the sawgrass prairie.

Geocaching

Do you enjoy the idea of treasure hunting? Seeking out keepsakes and tokens with only a handful of clues? Do you want to get deep into the everglades where it is more likely to see an alligator or osprey than it is to see a human? Have you ever heard of GEOCACHING???

Geocaching is a growing outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to hide and seek containers (called "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure", usually toys or trinkets of little monetary value.

Not surprisingly, there are many caches located within or near Everglades City. With so much beautifully preserved land for people to explore, caching has naturally worked its way into southern Florida. You will find caches in remote areas of the Fakahatchee Strand, where walking through the swamp among the orchids and cypress trees is your only option if you want to find the hidden treasure. There are caches located near bird roosts, where, at certain times of the year, you may meet up with thousands of roosting white ibis. You may find yourself paddling 8 miles through the 10,000 Islands to find your cache hidden among the sandy deserted beaches. Some caches are simple and act as an introduction between you and this unique ecosystem called the everglades.

The Game: Visit www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?zip=34139 to receive clues, maps and coordinates.

Once you find a cache:

• Fill out the logbook
  
• Take something out of the cache
  
• Put something in the cache
  
• Return the cache to the exact position and condition in which it was found.

Feel empowered by your recent find and seek out more!