Providence Canyon, you cannot get there through Fort Benning
In 2017 I caught one of the “Moments of Nature” videos at the end of CBS Sunday Morning. They had filmed a place called Providence Canyon in Georgia. I had never even heard of this place, Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon”.
Nature: Providence Canyon - YouTube
Spark!!!! I wanted to see this!!!! So, I began planning for a future long weekend. Researching and planning is one of the joys of the trip.
I found a place called FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It is a beautiful place where the President came for the therapeutic benefits of the nearby Warm Springs, and it became home to his “Little White House”. It is now Georgia’s largest state park, a little over an hour south of Providence Canyon.
So, in March 2018, off I went.
FDR State Park Visitor’s Center
It was a cool, breezy, and overcast weekend, highs in the 50’s, lows in the 40’s. Not crowded, of course, being in the off season. I had very few neighbors, none in tents. My next-door neighbor in a fancy Mercedes camping van. I only saw him come out once, to assist me with the tent set up in the stiff breeze that he saw me struggling a bit with. He had no fires in the evening. I wondered how he even observed me and thought to exit his sanctuary to help out.
It was a lovely site next to the lake.
As I mentioned, it was a breezy evening. Looking back, it was reportedly 20 MPH plus. After enjoying a fire by the lake, I went in the tent to get cozy, read a bit while I listened to the waves of wind charging across the mountains. I could hear it rumbling toward the campground like a train until it finally reached the tent and blasted the fabric surrounding me. I finally drifted off until sometime later I was awakened by being rolled over abruptly. The wind had caught underneath the tent and it was in danger of lifting off. I went out and double staked the corners, dragged in my camping bins, placing them and anything else I had around the inside perimeter to weigh it down. I lay, there for quite a while, wide eyed, listening. Eventually sleeping and later waking to a much calmer morning.
Day 2: off to Providence Canyon. The thing is, even with reliable cell service, navigation is not always correct. Happily cruising down the highway, after 30 minutes I thought something just didn’t look or feel right. Maybe it was just an interchange, but I seemed inevitably headed to the impressive and intimidating architecture of the front gate of Fort Benning with no way to turn around or exit.
Still my nav insists that I must take the road directly through the base. My confused and innocent self was greeted by the gate guards, very sweet, helpful, and charming. Chuckling, they assured me that my destination did not lie within the bounds of the base. They graciously allowed me to turn around and gave me general directions. I am smiling now remembering that amusing side trip. Down the road I go, soon spotting signage directing me to the canyon.
You know, come to think of it, a canyon really is just a glorified gully, isn’t it? At what point does a culvert graduate to a gully, a crevasse to a gorge, a ditch to a ravine to a canyon?
It is a very pretty place. In March it was not crowded, so a lovely place to wind and wander, taking in the other-planetary beauty that natural erosion can produce.
“EROSION: 2. the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc.” dictionary.com
Natural? It turns out this spot is a result of poor farming techniques in the 1800’s. Providence Canyon Facts: Learn About Its History & Significance | Kidadl
Another definition of erosion is the gradual decline or disintegration of something. Is it a “decline” or a revelation of an older, deeper, original magnificence?
It is certainly a transformation, a removal of the weaker parts, exposing the harder parts. Many times, revealing new but very different beauty.
Given enough time we all erode. Sometimes it is the old, familiar, comfortable. Hopefully revealing strength and sharp, new, authentic magnificence.