Everglades

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ditsjets7

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Oct 5, 2017
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Woodstock, NY
Hi all, looking to plan on hitting the keys and Everglades national park this July with our class C.

Any suggestions for where to stay in or near the national Park. I need full hookups is all. Thank you!

Mike
 
You could not pick a worse time or a worse place to to camping. You will need a full body suit of armor to protect you from the mosquitoes and another suit to protect you from the sun. On the good side you will be the only one in the campgrounds.
 
Temperatures will be in 90s and humidity will also be in 90s.  There are no pools to cool off in, and you will be dripping sweat constantly.  You know how they say that it isn't the heat, it's the humidity?  Well, it will be both the heat AND the humidity! 

And SeilerBird is right about the mosquitoes.  If you do decide to go, make sure you have lots of long-sleeved clothing, including long pants and full-head mosquito nets.  Use rubber bands around ankles and wrists. 

I love the Everglades, but it is humid and warm there even in January.  I am planning on being in Midway and riding my bike in Shark Valley in a few weeks, but I would not go there in July for anything. 
 
At least in July, you will have the tradewinds blowing through around the Keys.
Not so much when you get into the 'Glades.

July is much better than September or October
 
We own our RV lot in Key Largo and absolutely love the Everglades and constantly explore  the National park by bike, by hiking and by paddling either our tandem canoe or our kayaks.
Like others have said; it would be a big mistake to go to the Glades or the Keys in the summer. The daytime temperatures hover around 100 and it only drops to the low 90's or upper 80's at night.
Believe me, in the Keys, the "trade winds" don't help, (from experience)

With that said: if you still decide to go; The best place to stay would be at Miami Everglades Rv park which is just 10 miles from the southern entrance to the NP and only 25 or 30 miles from Key Largo. It is a first class RV park with full hook ups and a pool.

The two campgrounds in the NP are Long Pine Key which is fairly close to the entrance and has no hookups and Flamingo which is 30 miles from the entrance at the end of the road and has a limited amount with electricity and none with sewer.
In my opinion, the nicest months on the Everglades and Keys are March, April, May, October, November and early December .
We'll be heading into the Glades tomorrow with our paddleboards, (to the "Hells Bay" canoe trail) since there has been high winds here in the Keys, and they will be much lower in the NP interior.

Jack L
 
When we were in the Everglades many moons ago, in the winter, we took a ranger led walk.  People were waving off mosquitoes and the ranger was waving back at the people as if to say Hi.  Then he stopped and said. "Did everybody bring their coconut?"  People looked at each other in question and the ranger said, Down here we bring a coconut when we go outside. If we want to talk we toss the coconut back and forth and talk through the hole in the mosquitoes.  For July....best bring two coconuts!!
 
Arch Hoagland said:
Do you have pets?  Be aware that alligators will eat them.  It's a problem there.
Click to expand...

You go in July after a few minutes outside trying to outrun thousands of mosquitoes  in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity you will be looking for a Gator to eat you 
 
On the other hand, you would save some money. The campgrounds in Everglades National Park are free during the summer. that should give you an idea about just how uncomfortable it is then.

Joel
 
  The only worse time would be August.

  FWIW Trail Lakes has w/e sites.  https://www.evergladescamping.net/
 
We were there yesterday. We paddled the "Hells Bay" Canoe trail with our paddleboards.
During the whole day, we didn't see one mosquito and just two deer flies, but it was quite windy which probably blew them all away.

Jack L
 
SeilerBird said:
You could not pick a worse time or a worse place to to camping. You will need a full body suit of armor to protect you from the mosquitoes and another suit to protect you from the sun. On the good side you will be the only one in the campgrounds.
Click to expand...

During a visit to that area a few years back I remember reading some accounts of what the earliest non-native settlers went through when they tried to build & survive that area during summer months. The horror stories of unbearable living conditions stuck with me. And to think that was before air conditioning and DEET!  :(
 
There is a reconstructed fort up at Hillsborough River State Park.  (This is northeast of Tampa, so a lot farther north than the Everglades.)  The original was built during the Seminole Wars in 1836, about a hundred years before someone invented window screens.  In fact, the original fort had only wooden shutters over the windows, not even any glass windows that could be opened and closed. 

Anyway, during a tour a few years ago, we were told that the soldiers found the temperatures and the mosquitoes so bad during June, July, and August that they regularly abandoned the fort during those months, and came back only when it cooled off in September!

We often forget that the heat, humidity, and bugs were major reasons why much of Florida was not settled as early as other states, and that it was only the invention of air conditioning that made it habitable for the hoards of people who live here now. 
 
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