This kayak trip destination is excerpted from the “Killer Trips” feature in Adventure Kayak magazine. 

Everglades National Park & Big Cypress National Preserve, FL

These adjacent south Florida wildernesses are home to a disproportionately large number of dangerous creatures—from alligators, crocodiles, 20-foot Burmese pythons and four species of venomous snakes to black bears and 30 percent of Florida’s panther population—but it’s the biting insects that are most fearsome. Swarms of mosquitoes, chiggers and no-see-ums make paddling the maze of mangrove-lined creeks and bays, sawgrass prairies, endless sand beaches and cypress strands on the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway or one of the parks’ dozen shorter water trails utterly intolerable—if not deadly—from June to October. www.nps.gov/ever, www.nps.gov/bicy

This article was originally published in the Early Summer 2013 issue of Adventure Kayak. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.