A Guide to the Shark Valley Bike Trail and Tram at the Everglades National Park, Florida- The Shark Valley Bike Trail is located in the Everglades National Park in Florida. The bike ride starts and ends at the Shark Valley Visitors Center. The loop is 15 miles, it is meant to be taken one way but can be biked in either direction. You can buy a Tram ticket to see the sights, alligators and wildlife. if you do not want to bike. We even saw a few visitors and photographers walking the trail. The post will give you all you need to know and what to do at the Shark Valley Visitor Center in the Everglades National Park. It will include where to park, pricing for bike rentals and tram, trail highlights, safety and more.
Stats
Length: 15 miles
Time: 2-3 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation Gain: 0
Trailhead: Shark Valley Visitor Center
Overview
Tips For The Bike Ride / What To Bring
Should I Rent A Bike or Take The Tram?
Other Things To Do In The Area
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When To Go
No matter what time you go visitors are encouraged to go mid-week to avoid the crowds and the overflowing parking lot. You should always arrive early, before 10am or you can plan for an evening ride after 3:00pm
Where Can I Rent A Bike?
The Shark Valley Visitors Center has bikes to rent. The window is in the back outside of the building. They can be purchased on site but I would recommend purchasing the bikes in advance at least a few weeks before your trip. They have a reserved number of bikes that they will let you book ahead of time. After that it is first come first served.
If going early in the morning this shouldn’t be hard to get a bike. Once we were finished around noon with our tour there was a line waiting for bikes to be returned.
The bike rentals are $20 a bike and can be purchased here.
Bicycle rentals for use on the Everglades bike trail at Shark Valley begin at 8:30am and continue until 4:00pm. All bikes must be returned to the rental office by 5:00pm.
If you decide to purchase a bike in advance you must pick the bike up between 8:30am and 12:00pm. If you arrive after that window you will only get a bike along with the visitors that walked up to purchase.
Helmets will be needed for children that are under16 years of age. You can request one if you are above that age range at the rental shop if you want one.
Rules of the Bike Trail
- -Under Florida law, any bicyclist under age 16 must wear a helmet. The importance of Helmets
- -It is important to maintain a safe distance from all wildlife. Try to stay 10-15 feet away and do not feed or bother any animals. This is their natural home, and if you respect them, they will respect you.
- -Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, and South Florida summers deliver some impressive weather shows. Most of the thunderstorms occur during the mid to late afternoon hours, so the best riding times are in the morning, when it’s still a little cooler
- -If you choose to rent a bike from Shark Valley Tram Tours you will be asked to sign the Bike Risk Acknowledgement Form before departing the facilities.
Can I Bring My Own Bike?
Yes, you can bring your own bike! All you will need to do is pay the regular entrance fee at the pay booth of the park or use your America The Beautiful Pass. You can even park outside of the park and ride in, but you will still need to pay the normal visitor fee.
How Hard Is The Ride?
The entire trial is completely flat. Besides the length this is a very easy ride. You will be stopping a lot to see the wildlife. So naturally there will be many breaks along the course. The only difficult section we ran into was on our way back from the tower we hit some major wind gusts. The ranger warned us that he got an alert for high winds, and that it may if a harder trip back. It made pedaling against the wind a little harder out then the smooth ride on the way in.
Any type of bike rider should have no problem on this trail, we saw riders of all ages. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Parking
The Shark Valley Visitor Center is very small, and so is their parking lot. I would advise planning to get there early during the weekends or high season.
Once the parking lot is full they only let one car in as one leaves. We got there a little after 8:00am with no problem, but when we were leaving a little after noon there was a pretty decent line to get in.
You can park off of the US 41 road. The rangers do advise making sure you do not leave valuables in your car if you choose to do this.
The Route
Start
The start of the trail begins at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. The rangers told us to take the trail starting right (counter-clockwise), near the parking lot. But it seemed like people were taking the trail’s loop in either direction.
First Half Of The Trail
The first 7 miles of this bike path will be very straight and flat. When first on it I had doubts that it would be very much fun, nor looked very scenic. But as we slowed down and really started to look we began to see alligators right away! And even baby alligators and one crocodile!
There were tons of different birds around. We noticed a lot of the birds and gators were hanging out in the shaded areas to enjoy the cool before the heat of the day came.
Even though we felt like we saw lots of wildlife and alligators, the rangers informed us that they didn’t even think there were that many out today. So with that said if we went on a low day I think this trail would be worth it at any point in the year.
Most of the animals were all on the right side in the water along the path.
Be sure to slow down and keep an eye out for them.
Tower
Near mile 8 (about half way through the trail) there is a lookout tower, The Shark Valley Observation Tower. This tower is 65 feet tall and has a long windy ramp, so it can be accessed with a wheelchair! There is a clean restroom here along with portlets during the busy seasons.
At the top it is a great place to look out for birds circling around. And if you look down, depending on the tide, there could be dozens of alligators! We only saw one gator from this tower, but could see a lot of birds, fish and turtles!
There are some picnic tables by the Tram Stop and Bike Racks if you want to take a rest and eat a lunch or snack at this stop.
Second Half of the Trail
Once finished with the tower it is now time to head back, you will have 8 miles to go until you are back at the Visitors Center. The route back is a little bit more curvy but just as flat. We had a windy day so the ride back was against the wind, but we managed.
We didn’t see as many gators on the way back but the ones we did we got a very clear view of them. They were typically right along the path and in the swampy waters instead of the brush and creek. I also saw some baby turtles!
Tips For The Bike Ride
Bring Water
Florida is hot! And this is a long trek. Although it is not super difficult to bring water, there will be nowhere to get some along the route. tower?
Weather
Snice Florida is known to have some pop up thunderstorms, make sure you check the weather before heading out.
Sunscreen
You are in Florida, remember? Bring some sunscreen no matter where you go. We lathered up in the parking lot.
Lunch/Snack
We packed a sandwich but since we started so early we ended around noon. I did stop mid trail to get a snack and a drink.
How Hard Is The Ride?
As mentioned before, the route is not hard at all. The trail is completely flat, with no elevation change. You will make many stops to break up the route. Any one with minimal bike experience should do just fine.
Where To Stay
We actually made a long drive in the morning from Sanibel Island. It was an early wake up call but was worth it to beat the heat and crowd. If you want to spend more time in other areas of the park it would probably be best to stay closer. Naples would be about an 1 hour and 30 minutes drive depending on where in Naples you are driving from. And Miami would be a 50 minute drive, Miami would also put you closer to the Flamingo Visitor Center if you plan on going there for a day trip.
Naples
Miami
Should I Rent A Bike or Take The Tram?
In my opinion I would always stick with the bike trail. You can go at your own pace, and you can stop when you want to for wildlife.
The Tram operators are good at finding wildlife and telling you about the area, but I always feel doing a trail on your own is more enjoyable.
I choose the Tram Ride if I was unable to ride a bike, or terrified to get closer to the alligators. The Tram will be a nice enclosure.
Tram Tour Tickets and Pricing
Tickets for the Tram Tours can be purchased ahead of time on their website, which I always encourage to plan ahead.
Tram Tour Pricing
Adult $27
Child $14
Senior $21
Years 0-2 Free
Other Things To Do In The Area
Flamingo Visitor Center
If wanting to explore the National Park more I would suggest going to Flamingo Visitor Center in the Everglades. This area of the park is perfect for a kayaking tour and seeing manatees.
Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center
Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center is not far from the Shark Valley Visitor Center and worth a visit to see some more wildlife and learn more information from their Ranger Station.
Drive the Scenic Loop Road
On our way in we saw the Loop Road Scenic Drive, this is a gravel path through the everglades, you will spot alligators and some birds along the road. If you saw a lot of wildlife on the bike trail I would skip this.
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