The third type of campsite, chickees, are built in areas where there is no dry land. These are elevated platforms on stilts with open sides and a sloped metal roof. Vault toilets are attached to the platform by a gangway. Chickees are named after Calusa thatch huts of similar design that they constructed on terra firma. In their day, the Calusa would keep a smoldering fire of black mangrove going in the chickees to keep out the mosquitoes, and they slept on a raised platform beneath the thatch to catch the breezes.

Many first-time Everglades paddlers are surprised at what really comprises the Everglades. There are two preconceived notions of the Everglades: The first image is of the Everglades as jungle, with tall trees filled with exotic birds, and snakes dangle from limbs hanging over alligator-filled waters. This image actually comes close to describing the Big Cypress Swamp, which lies directly north of the Everglades.

The second image, the Everglades as a sea of water and grass shimmering to the horizon, with the sun mercilessly beating down, is partly accurate, but describes none of this park's paddling area. There are numerous other ecosystems here, such as pine islands where deer thrive and panthers may roam, or tropical hardwood hammocks where trees like the strangler fig lend a lush, tropical Southern Florida look. Cypress sloughs and coastal prairies are other ecosystems found here. For the paddler, there are two primary ecosystems: coastal mangrove swamps and the Gulf of Mexico, also known as the "outside." Of these, the mangrove swamp dominates the paddling area. With the perpetual mixing of fresh and salt waters, mangrove trees thrive here, forming the largest, thickest, tallest mangrove forest on the face of the planet. Mangroves exceed 100 feet in height along the Shark River. Extending more than 90 miles from north to south and 50 miles west to east, Everglades National Park (ENP) is the largest nature preserve east of the Mississippi; in the lower 48 states, it's second in size only to Death Valley National Park. The paddling area of ENP stretches 90 miles along the Gulf and 20 or so miles inland. There are more than 400 miles of commonly paddled routes within the ENP. All of these routes connect the two primary launch points, Flamingo and Everglades City, with backcountry campsites.