The Oleta River, situated north of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, drains the northern

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

into

Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

, allowing freshwater to reach the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Today, it is the only natural river in Miami-Dade County that has not been

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

and channelized. Its seven miles (11 km) of shoreline are largely undeveloped, making the Oleta River Corridor a vestige of wilderness in a matrix of urbanization. Between the Everglades and Biscayne Bay, over six miles (10 km) of trail have been developed for use by

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with de ...

s: slightly more than a mile of expert singletrack, a half-mile of intermediate singletrack, almost three miles (5 km) of novice singletrack, and more than two miles (3 km) of paved pathway. They all connect in what is essentially an out-and-back, but various loops of different lengths and difficulties can be ridden off the main out-and-back. The extinct Tequesta Indians canoed the waters of the Oleta River over 400 years ago and today, a Tequesta village and midden site is preserved nearby as a reminder of the river's past

human history Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied throug ...

. This area now represents one of the last wilderness areas available to

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

in northern Miami-Dade County.

Gallery

File:Night Heron at Oleta River State Park.jpg, Night Heron on the Oleta River File:Miami FL Oleta River SP08.jpg, Oleta River File:Miami FL Oleta River SP river01.jpg, Oleta River

References

Trails.com

AcademicDB
Rivers of Florida Bodies of water of Miami-Dade County, Florida {{Florida-river-stub

Gallery

See also

References