Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon

October 27th, 2023

Providence Canyon is known as Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon

Although the name suggests that the canyon near Lumpkin, Ga developed over millennia, sadly, the erosion that created this beautiful landscape happened due to poor farming practices in the 1800s.

Tim, Reba and I took on the 2.5 mile Canyon Loop trail that is rated easy to moderate. Tim says that is a lie and it is hard.

The ranger at the visitor’s center recommended that we go counter clockwise, which has you go down about 150 feet on a pretty steep portion of the trail, but back up over nearly a mile, so the elevation change is less difficult. Again, Tim says it was all hard and that the ranger is a liar.

We made our way down to the bottom on well packed trails.

The park extends over 1100 acres and features 16 “canyons” that you can explore from over ten total miles of trails.

The gorgeous colors of the canyon walls come from the Clayton formation, which is the red upper layer and the Providence sand layer, which is over 100 feet deep and shows off the white, tan, lavender and many other shades.

At the bottom of the canyon, the trail we took veers off so you can view nine of the 16 canyons from their base. If you go, wear waterproof boots because the trail sits below sea level and little streams run everywhere!

As we neared the end of the trail we came across old car skeletons that had been left by a homesteader. When the property became part of the park the rangers made the decision to leave them where they were because birds and other small animals had made homes in them.