Road Trip from Atlanta: Providence Canyon

Staying true to the 12 trips in 12 months pact, Jeff and I drove to a place I’ve been wanting to go ever since we moved to Atlanta – Providence Canyon. We went a couple of weekends ago and it was pretty magically, I have to say, even in the 90 degree heat.

We partnered with Southeast Toyota for a mini road trip just outside of Lumpkin, GA to see the canyons, do some hiking, and explore a city very different from Atlanta. If you’re ever looking for a nature lovers getaway and you live anywhere near ATL, this is 100% it!

Click through for all the photos from our trip – to a place nicknamed ‘Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon’.

Something you probably don’t know about me… Growing up, my parents were pretty big nature lover / adventurer types, especially my dad. Camping, kayaking, rafting (I think at one point my dad was a rafting guide in his spare time – I should probably ask him about that), etc – they were all on the list of family weekend activities. At the time, I kind of hated it, BUT looking back now I have really fond memories of those trips. And I suppose the nature thing has come out in me again as an adult.

Jeff loves it too. And we’re hoping to do a bunch of state park / nature trips soonish (Joshua Tree, Goblin Valley, Antelope Canyon, etc), so Providence Canyon seemed like a good starter park to get our feet wet again.

ANYWAY, now that I’ve rambled on and on, let’s get to it! Starting with how I somehow thought it was necessary to bring literally EVERY blanket I could get my hands on…and a whole lot of pillows too…for a ONE DAY adventure. At the time it seemed like the right move (always be prepared right?!), but in hindsight I realize how weird that really was. I guess I figured since we were borrowing a RAV4, I might as well stuff it to the brim with anything I could possibly need. I mean, there was plenty of room. So why not, right?! Right. But now that it’s all said and done, I’m willing to admit hat it may have been a tad excessive. Though it did come in handy at one point. 

Aside from my overpacking, the drive down was pretty easy – blasting music from my phone via Bluetooth streaming (which was actually a lifesaver for a long drive because I totally forgot to bring the AUX cord). We drove straight to the park on the way there, but took note of a few places we wanted to stop on the way back. One of which was a pink barn right off the main road. Naturally we had to stop for a photo op.

Then, we hiked down to the canyon floor and chose a trail. Which just so happened to be the shortest option because in the frenzy of packing all of those unnecessary textiles, I completely forgot to bring more appropriate hiking shoes. So, I trucked it through nature in my sandals.

There are some really nice longer trails though that I found when I was doing some research for this trip. The most popular one being Canyon Loop Trail, which circles nine of the canyons and takes a couple of hours to hike through. We opted to walk up through the (mostly) dried out river beds instead, which was quick and easy and the views were still pretty great.

There were shallow cavelike areas to explore, rust-colored layers of earth to take pictures of, and plenty of sandy terrain to make our way through. In some parts it almost felt like a beach with no ocean. So, I took off my shoes and laid down for a while. Again, the heat! I had to. If it wasn’t so hot, I could have stayed there for days though. And you actually can camp there if you’re interested – just not in the exact spot we took photos.

After a few hours, we hiked back up to the visitors center and made our way to the nearby lake. Florence Marina is only a five or ten minute drive from the Providence Canyon entrance. It was a nice spot to cool off and given that I had a huge stack of blankets and pillows, I set up an impromptu picnic in the trunk with everything I brought. It was really cozy back there in the trunk actually…I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but I dozed off in all the blankets for a few minutes after we were done taking pictures. I was SO tired after hiking. Totally worth it though.

After we cooled down and I took a cat nap, we used the built-in navigation to guide us back through to Columbus and had some dinner at a little cafe and watched people raft down the Chattahoochee. Which felt like a good way to end the trip. So, back to ATL we went! We got home pretty late because we packed so much into the day, but it’s a totally doable day trip from Atlanta. Really an easy drive.

Where would your dream road trip be? Is there anywhere you’re dying to travel to rn?

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