Opened in 1922 as the first motorway to Flamingo, the Old Ingraham Highway saw its share of Model Ts and other roadsters as intrepid motorists made their way down to the small fishing village on the edge of Florida Bay.

After Everglades National Park was dedicated in 1947, the road continued to provide the park’s visitors with access to Flamingo until a new highway opened in the 1960s. Created by a dredge floating on barges, much like the method used to push the Tamiami Trail across the Everglades, the Old Ingraham Highway was built on a pile of limestone dredged up out of the sawgrass prairie, which created the paralleling Homestead Canal. Parts of the old highway and the canal still stretch through the park, from a segment of the Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm Hammock to the edge of Snake Bight.

Well off the beaten path, starting at Big Pine Key, you can walk the now-eroding highway, one of the few long trails in Everglades National Park to expose you to broad vistas of the sawgrass prairies. It’s also one of only two trails in the park with designated backcountry campsites. If you plan to backpack and set up camp, be sure to stop at any of the ranger stations beforehand for a backcountry permit. The Old Ingraham Highway has two designated campsite areas, the Ernest Coe campsite (at 3.5 miles) at the Old Ingraham campsite (at 11 miles). The trail is shared with bicyclists, but is usually broad enough (and desolate enough) to avoid conflicts.

Guidebooks
50 Hikes in South Florida
Hiker's Guide to the Sunshine State
South Florida: An Explorer's Guide