"The “big” in Big Cypress is much more about land and sky than about trees. Most of the preserve’s giant cypress trees were long ago logged out, leaving behind their stunted kin. But few places can match the sense of spacious wilderness (720,000 acres, or 292,000 hectares) and primal pleasure of Big Cypress Swamp when you hike it under its own terms. Which, we submit, is when it’s underwater. That’s right—conventional wisdom may say to stick to the dry season, and that’s fine."