Everglades Swamp Tours at Big Cypress Gallery

Now is the opportune time to see the beauty of the Everglades without wading through lots of water, with an easy DRY walk tour. During the dry season, which starts in the middle of March, you can take a tour behind Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery without getting muddy. The walk is under a half mile and led by Scott Randolph, a naturalist photographer. He loves taking people out and sharing all that the area offers. “I’m connected everywhere in nature because it is so beautiful,” he says. 

Randolph is one interesting person. I have had the pleasure of meeting Scott as he occasionally accompanies our biologist-led endangered plant research in the Everglades. He was raised in the woodlands of Southern Oregon and always had a passion for nature. He also was a gifted baseball athlete that was drafted by the California Angels, but his career was halted due to shoulder injuries. After his sports career was put on hold, he and his wife Conny, his seventh-grade sweetheart, ran a small physical therapy business and fitness center. After eight years of running the business, his landlord wanted to turn the building that housed their business into micro motels. They did not want to find another building, so they ended up selling all their equipment.

Randolph’s love of Florida wildlife started when he and Conny came to the Florida Keys for a two-week vacation. He had seen images of sandy beaches on TV and wanted to explore more of the state. They were intrigued by the mystery surrounding the Everglades as it was represented as a wild unexplored region. They ended up in Bahia Honda and heard they could become state park volunteers and stay for four months. They worked at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. They ended up at Collier Seminole State Park as volunteer kayak guides. After various volunteering stints and working with other state park volunteers, rangers, botanists and park biologists they learned about diverse and different ecosystems in southern Florida. 

In order to afford his volunteer activities, Randolph took a job working on the removal of invasive plants at the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. He continues to research invasive and vascular plants today, especially in crucial areas being invaded with such plants as Brazilian Pepper and others.

The Randolphs got jobs working at the Big Cypress Gallery with Scott giving swamp tours and living onsite. They both have commented on how all their volunteer work has led them to a place they think of as heaven. In the twelve years he has worked at Big Cypress, he has given over 3,500 tours.

The couple dreamed of putting a field guide together, but plans were halted when Conny’s eyesight dimmed, and she could not focus her camera properly. Scott had to learn how to take photographs, which he now does so magnificently. “When I see something cool or pretty - it could be a cool color or shape, background, lighting … anything beautiful, I want to take a picture, “said Randolph. “A picture brings you back to the moment, a memory of where I’ve been, where I am, and where I desire to go.”

Randolph was inspired by both Clyde and Niki Butcher’s artwork and further fine-tuned his photography skills. Since joining the staff as a naturalist guide, the Randolphs have explored the Everglades on foot and canoe and have been photographing the wilderness to “capture its pristine essence and unique beauty.” Clyde Butcher recognized Scott’s budding talent and invited him to exhibit his work at the Gallery. After your nature walk, you can visit the Gallery and purchase one of his beautiful images.

Randolph gives a wonderful tour showcasing everything from the endangered Dingy Star and other types of orchids blooming overhead to various natural grasses. There is much to see out in the wild. Animal tracks of many mammals can be found, including deer, bobcat, and wild boar. You might even get to see an elusive Florida panther.

Birders can be treated to seeing feathered friends like Blue Buntings, American Redstarts, Northern Cardinals and Swallow Tail Kites that migrated from South America.

Ecosystems and their natural communities are also explored with guests from Marl prairie to Cypress forest and strand swamp. Beautiful epiphytic bromeliads hang overhead on pond apple and cypress trees with their magnificent buttresses. Native ferns dot the landscape along with exposed limestone rocks. In some ecosystems, visitors can see terrestrial orchids such as the Pine Pink Orchid and Lady’s Tresses Orchids.

After June, when summer rains have soaked the dry land, guests can see another view of the Everglades magic with a true swamp tour.

To learn more about dry season tours and to check on current conditions at Big Cypress Gallery, please visit Clyde Butcher.com or call 239-695-2428. The gallery can be found at 52388 Tamiami Trail, Ochopee, Florida.

Be sure when visiting the Gallery to check out not only the phenomenal photos by Clyde and Niki Butcher but the moving pieces of Scott Randolph, the baseball star turned naturalist, photographer and guide.