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Photo: Jason Hollinger / CC BY 2.0 · source

Lakes & rivers

Big Cypress National Preserve

Ochopee, FL · The EvergladesFreeFree to enter

About

From December to May, alligators gather at the Oasis Visitor Center on the Tamiami Trail in Big Cypress National Preserve. That's the dry season, when the wildlife collects at ponds and canals and the bald cypress look dead. They're only dormant. Loop Road swings south off the Trail for about 24 miles through cypress swamp. It rarely floods, but expect potholes.

Highlights

Loop Road, 24 miles of cypress swampRanger-led wet walksAlligators at Oasis Visitor CenterInternational Dark Sky ParkNational preserve since 1974

Getting there

33100 Tamiami Trail East, Ochopee, FL 34141

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Go in winter if you can. Manatees crowd the warm springs from mid-November through March, and the wading birds are thickest on the same cool, dry mornings.