Providence State Park...GA's 'Little Grand Canyon'
Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon"
Lumpkin, GA
If 'Providence' and 'Grand Canyon' are going to be in the same sentence, they may want to re-think their adjectives. Instead of 'little', maybe 'miniscule' or 'fly-speck' would be more appropriate but then neither of those would look as good on the brochures at the rest stop or Holiday Inn lobby.
Despite its comparitively small size, Providence was breathtaking and well worth the 3+ hour trip southwest of Atlanta. The canyon was caused by poor farming practices that resulted in ditches 3-5 feet deep in the mid-1800's. These quickly grew into the 16 canyons seen today at a depth of approximately 150 feet and some at nearly 300 feet across.
There are 3 miles of day-use hiking trails through the canyons and a 7 mile backcountry trail that ends in overnight camping areas.
The rim trail was a easy walk through the woods with very few opportunities to actualy see into the canyon. There were several rusted, abandoned vehicles scattered around one area where signs said there was an old homestead.
Towards the end of the rim trail was this view...
Zoomed in to some hikers below...
Once down at the bottom (easy hike), there were signs directing hikers to the numbered canyons...
Looking up...
There are plenty of other things to do in the general area including Calloway Gardens, Warm Springs (Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 'Little White House'), Plains (you remember Jimmy Carter?) and Lake Harding.
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"I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park, there's nothing else to do." Lenny Bruce
Last edited by (four 0 four); Sep 14, 2009 at 8:24 PM.
Interesting. It looks more like Bryce Canyon in Utah than it does the Grand Canyon (even if the former is technically not a canyon), but it's certainly not what I expect from Georgia!
That first pic is a doozie. So the erosion caused by farmers 150 years ago is still going on? I hope there aren't some knuckleheads out there who decide to "develop" their own tourist canyon with the same technique.
As Upward stated, interesting stuff. Thanks for the pics and info.
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Neat. At first I was having trouble judging the scale, so that shot with the hikers really helped. So is that just soil eroding, is there actually any substantial rock there?
So is that just soil eroding, is there actually any substantial rock there?
The top layer is good old Georgia red clay. The majority of the canyon walls consist of kaolin and it was easy to understand how it eroded so quickly because just lightly brushing the walls would make it crumble.
From the Georgia Encyclopedia...
Kaolin is most commonly used in the paper-coating industry. It is also used as a filler (added to plastics, for example, and rubber compounds), as a pigment additive in paints, in ceramics (tile, chinaware, and bathroom toilets and sinks), and in pharmaceuticals.
__________________
"I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park, there's nothing else to do." Lenny Bruce
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