The River of Grass flows fifty miles wide and six inches deep across 1.5 million acres of subtropical wetland, a sheet-flow ecosystem unlike any other on the continent.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas coined the phrase in 1947, the same year Congress designated the Everglades a national park, protecting the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. What visitors see from Fort Lauderdale—the sawgrass marshes, cypress domes, and mangrove estuaries of the park's eastern fringe—represents the final stretch of a watershed that begins at Lake Okeechobee and drains south through a mosaic of sloughs and tree islands before emptying into Florida Bay.
Airboats arrived in the Everglades in the 1930s, flat-bottomed craft powered by aircraft propellers that could skim across shallow water and dense vegetation without a submerged drive. Early models carried hunters and trappers; by the 1960s, recreational tours had turned the airboat into the signature vessel of the glades. Modern operators launch from departure points along the Tamiami Trail and the park's northern boundary, offering access to zones otherwise unreachable by foot or traditional watercraft. The boats themselves generate ninety decibels at full throttle, and most tour companies provide hearing protection as standard equipment.
The park shelters 360 bird species, including roseate spoonbills, wood storks, and the largest nesting population of wading birds in North America. American alligators occupy every body of freshwater in the system, their populations rebounding from near-extinction in the 1960s to an estimated 200,000 individuals today. Less visible but equally critical are the sawgrass prairies—Cladium jamaicense, technically a sedge—that define the landscape's texture and hydrology. The plant's serrated edges slice through the water column, creating a matrix of channels that guide sheet flow and anchor the entire food web. Dry-season water levels drop to expose limestone bedrock pocked with solution holes, seasonal refuges where fish and amphibians concentrate and predators congregate.
Fort Lauderdale sits eighteen miles east of the park's main entrance at Shark Valley, making it the closest urban access point for visitors arriving by air or cruise ship. Round-trip transportation packages bundle hotel pickup with guided airboat excursions, eliminating the need for rental vehicles and navigating rural routes. Most departures align with the park's 09:30 opening, positioning arrivals ahead of midday heat and afternoon thunderstorms that build over the peninsula between June and September.
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