Turner River kayak trail: The best in the Everglades

The Turner River is one of the most popular kayak trails in the Everglades for a good reason – it’s the best.

I haven’t paddled every trail in the Everglades, but I’ve done a lot of them. So far, the Turner River wins out because, unlike most trails, where you choose either cypress swamp or mangrove or sawgrass environments, the Turner River takes you through it all – with over-the-top scenery and wildlife too.

Starting at the Tamiami Trail a few miles east of Everglades City, it begins in an achingly beautiful freshwater cypress forest of Big Cypress National Wildlife Refuge. Then the giant cypress trees, maples and pond apples give way to saltwater-loving mangroves and you make your way through mangrove tunnels too tight for paddles: We pulled our way through branch-to-branch, feeling vaguely like Tarzan. Finally, the trail continues through open sawgrass marsh.

The scenery, the abundant wildlife and the trail’s proximity to cities (it’s eight miles to Everglades City; 75 to Miami) have made it a favorite among kayakers and kayak outfitters, who offer one-way trips with livery service allowing you to paddle from the Tamiami Trail all the way to Everglades City in a five to six hour trip. (Details below.)

One kayak outfitter with whom I spoke said he had stopped running trips there because of crowds.

But when we arrived at 9 a.m. on a winter Sunday with perfect weather, we were the only people in the parking lot and we saw not a soul on the Turner River for several hours. Even then, we passed only a handful of kayaks and canoes. However, when we returned, the small parking lot on the Tamiami Trail was completely full.

Two weeks later, we returned, paddling the river on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. The river was just as lovely and full of wildlife, but we passed three or four guided kayak tours, each with five or six boats, so we rarely felt alone in the wilderness.

My conclusion: The Turner River is popular for a good reason. Give it a try, but plan and prepare accordingly. If you can, start early or go on a weekday.

Ways to kayak the Turner River

There are many different ways to kayak the Turner River. Here are a few options:

• Bring your own canoe or kayak, put in at the launch on the Tamiami Trail, paddle north and/or south and return to your car. (There’s not much current so paddling upstream is not an issue.) If water levels are high, you should still be able to paddle 45 minutes to an hour downstream and then back.
• Bring your own canoe or kayak. Arrange to be picked up at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center at Everglades National Park, shuttled to the launch site and then paddle back to your car. You can make these arrangements with outfitters, including EvergladesAdventures.com, which operates out of the Ivey House Everglades Adventure Hotel in Everglades City. If you consider paddling to Chokoloskee, please see a note of caution below about water levels.
• Rent a kayak or canoe from one of several outfitters licensed to provide service in the wildlife refuge.
• Go on a guided adventure with an outfitter. (Same list as above.)

We chose to explore the Turner River from the launch site, paddling both north and south and then returning after several hours to our own car – an approach I recommend if you have your own kayak. The advantages to us: Nobody to pay, we could launch at our own schedule and paddle a trip of whatever length we wanted.

On some trips, we headed north first into a beautiful less-frequented stretch of the river. When water levels are high, you can paddle quite a distance and the scenery is lovely.

Southbound, the first section you paddle is often full of wildlife – small alligators and all sorts of birds. The vegetation is spectacular: The trees are packed with airplants that cover every available surface; there are beautiful groupings of water lilies and swamp lilies.

After about 45 minutes, the first mangrove tree appears and then you plunge into a shadowy mangrove tunnel. That tunnel opens up to placid pond, and then it is mangrove tunnel No. Two. This one is tighter and longer. We tuck our paddles into our canoe and pull ourselves through it in a form of hand-to-hand combat, ducking constantly to limbo under low branches. (Don’t try the second mangrove is water level is high; there might not be enough clearance.)

The open marsh that follows rewards us with birds – flocks of storks, squawking, grunting ibis, herons voicing their annoyance, kingfishers with their rattling call.

In this section, you find the only landing spot on the trail, a little section of ground with a few palm trees and several picnic tables. It is a perfect places to stretch. It comes about 1.75 miles into the trail, so watch for it and stretch your legs.

The paddling guide provided by Everglades National Park (alas, no longer available online) has helpful points marked on the map, including the junction with the old Turner River Canal, which is plugged to restore water to the Turner River.

There were so many birds in the old canal, however, that we decided to divert from the trail to see how far it extended. At what appeared to be the end of the canal, we found a narrow access points where we could paddle into another basin. This discovery was perhaps our favorite: This hidden, off-the-trail body of water was packed with wildlife, from alligators to schools of fish visible in the clear water to all sorts of birds. Except for the sound of our paddles and the birds, there was complete silence.

We paddled downstream to the next mangrove tunnel and turned around, retracing our path.

How long did it take? In the trip that included heading north and also exploring the old canal, our total paddle time was perhaps four or five hours. In a 2017 return trip, where the northern stretch was too thick with hydrilla and we did not explore the canal, the trip was somewhere between three and four hours round trip.

Water levels are critical to Turner River kayak trip

Summers around here are miserable — swarms of no-see-ums and mosquitos will greet you. The best times to kayak the Turner, then, is November to April, when the heat, humidity and insects are less of a problem.

But you have to check if the water is too high or two low. Either condition makes the trail impassable.

For example, as I write this in mid-November 2021, I just returned from a morning on the river when the water level was quite high. To get under the Tamiami Trail bridge (right at the start), we had to lay flat in our canoe and pull ourselves under the bridge. We had to turn around in the middle of the second mangrove tunnel because we couldn’t clear the lowest branches.

In addition to the clearance issue, high water means the alligators and birds have lots of options, so not as many gather in the river and wildlife viewing may not be impressive. (These conditions are also likely in summer.)

Conversely, the Turner River is impassable when the water gets too low, which often happens in spring. One March, we had tried to do the Turner, but it was too late in the season and too shallow. (We ended up paddling the nearby Halfway Creek trail.)

Check the water levels at the Big Cypress Visitor Center nearby or call the Big Cypress Visitor Center (239-695-2000) to inquire.

Tips for kayaking the Turner River

• Turner River trail from National Park Service.
• Map of Turner River and Gulf Coast trails in Everglades National Park/Big Cypress.
• Canoes or kayaks over 16 feet long will have a hard time maneuvering the mangrove tunnels.
• There is no overnight parking at the Turner River lot. There is a restroom and picnic tables.

Your visit to Everglades City area

We love visiting Everglades City. It’s a small fishing village with fresh seafood, historic buildings and access to many outdoors adventures.

• A great saltwater kayak trail nearby is Sandfly Loop, which gives you a taste of the Ten Thousand Island.
• Halfway Creek is another kayak trail quite close to the Turner River. It’s where we kayaked the time water was too low in the Turner River.
• There are two good boat tours offered at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center.
• Everglades City is the base for many stone-crab fishermen, so it’s a good place to indulge in the seasonal seafood. Here’s where to eat stone crabs in Everglades City plus general background on the city.
• Visit one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-track stops, historic Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee, just four miles away. (Its docks are a lovely place to watch the sunset and there’s a barbecue food truck now operating from there, serving food at picnic tables with an incredible waterfront view.)
• We’ve stayed at Ivey House Everglades Adventure Hotel in Everglades City, which also operates a kayaking outfitter.
• Nearby Ochopee Post Office  on the Tamiami Trail is the smallest in the US. And cute.
• Our guide to the scenic drive across Florida via Tamiami Trail is full of good places to hike, picnic and explore.
• Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park: Excellent trail for bicycling and wildlife viewing in Everglades National Park.
• Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery: It’s always a thrill to view his large-format black-and-white photos of Florida’s wilds.
• Big Cypress National Preserve: Six ways to explore the Everglades
• Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park : Big wild and good for hiking.