Forget the calendar. There are two basic seasons in South Florida that drive natural cycles. Winter-dry, summer-wet. Our first visit to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park came in late October 2015, near the end of the wet season, and this photo was taken on that trip along Janes Scenic Drive. The water levels were high and flowing fast in places, reflecting the wet season. A lot of the vegetation had died back; the cypress already had dropped a lot of their needles, revealing more of the swamp's interior than might have been visible even a month earlier. Compare with how lush and dense things are in the previous photo, which was taken in early May 2022. We don't know how old these cypress trees are, maybe 60 years, give or take a decade or so, but definitely second growth. Back to the beginning.
