Big Cypress Preserve

Saturday we drove to the Big Cypress Preserve in the northern part of the Everglades. I think it was only about 45 miles west of Miami on highway 41, or Alligator Alley as the locals call it. The first stop was at the Oasis Visitor Center. We arrive around 9:30 in the morning. The schedule showed that it opened at 9:00. The parking lot was packed. We had to park on the grass in the back of the lot. There were a number of Boy Scouts that were straping on their backbacks and getting ready to go for some distance, most likely for the weekend.

We had two thing s that we wanted to see on this trip, Big Cypress Preserve and Clyde Butcher's Photo Gallery.

Clyde Butcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When we departed the Visitor Center we drove about 7 miles to the Kirby Storter walking path. This took us out into the Swamp about 1 mile round trip. We walked on a board walk above the water for the entire trip.

I would recommend the walk as it was well worth the effort. We were able to see some of the Big Cypress trees that were growing out of the water. This was something that I have been wanting to Photograph for a number of years. I just have not been able to make the trip out to the preserve.

Having seen Clyde Butchers Photographic work some years earlier makes you want to get out and see what he is recording. This area is breath taking. Dad and I discussed that Clyde has the advantage of living in this area year round. He is able to know the seasons, when things are blooming and when it alive with color.

I recorded so many images from the weekend, I am sure a number of them will make the website.

After seeing Clyde Butchers work, dad was inspired to start photography all over again. He was a hobby photographer back in his younger days. He tells stories of using the darkroom and developing his own film. I thought that I would post a Black and White Image of the swamp. I am sure I will spend a number of nights working in Photoshop trying to make some of the images into pieces of art.

I gave dad my other camera and had him take pictures of anything that he wanted. He was taking a number of good shots, a couple of which are on this post.

I would recommend to everyone that is in the South Florida area during the winter months to drive out to the Big Cypress Preserve. The preserve was established in 1974 and expanded in 1988 to a total of 729,000 acres. The winter months is the dry season which gives you less bugs. We had a wonderful day of about 83 degrees. The shade of the trees made it very peaceful and a comfortable walk.






Hope to see you back at the blog soon.

Ibishawk


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