are NPS-administered campgrounds galore, and for those who’d rather not rough it, there’s a full service lodge at Rock Harbor and camper cabins at Windigo. On the water, visitors can canoe or kayak around rocky coves and caves, fish, or dive to several close- by shipwrecks. For adventure seekers, this park is one fantastic, uncrowded wilderness paradise—and, frankly, it’s hard to believe that it attracts only about 26,000 visitors a year. Part of the reason may be that the park closes completely from November to mid-April.
The park is perhaps best known as the home of Fort Jefferson, a massive six-sided, three-tiered fortification initiated in 1846 by the U.S. Army to protect the Florida coast. Although unfinished, Fort Jefferson consists of more than 16 million bricks, making it the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. Visitors can walk along the inside walls where 420 heavy guns (mostly 15-ton Rodman canons) were once mounted in open casements. A half-dozen of the awesome old canons have been restored and remain in place overlooking the Straits of Florida. Coral reefs surrounding the islands provide a home for brightly colored reef fish as well as larger species including shark, tarpon, and barracuda. You are also sure to spot green, loggerhead, or hawksbill turtles. During winter months, birdwatchers come to view the busy Sooty Tern colony on Bush Key. To reach the park, you’ll need to take a ferry or seaplane from Key West for the 70-mile journey to the dock at Fort Jefferson.
www.nps.gov/isro | 906-482-0984
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida Here’s another park that owes its solitude to its remote, hard-to-reach location. The park consists of seven tiny islets at the tip of the Florida Keys—named by Explorer Ponce de Leon, who called the area Las Tortugas (the turtles) owing to the large number of turtles he observed there. The park is home to several species of turtles and there are plenty of them to be seen.
www.nps.gov/drto | 305-242-7700
Dry Tortugas National Park.
LONELIEST NATIONAL PARKS
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE FALL 2024 | 23
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker