Providence Canyon State Park
(Lumpkin, GA)
In a region known for its rural towns and peanut farms, it is startling to come across the large natural canyon featured in this state park. Known as Georgia “Little Grand Canyon”, the multicolored sandstone of the area has led to many interesting rock formations. You can hike along the river bed of the canyon floor for quite a ways.
Reed Bingham State Park
(Adel, GA)
I was a little disappointed when I first got to Reed Bingham to find that its signature dam was dry due the lake being drained for maintenance. As I started to kayak the shallow lake and found myself dragging bottom, it was even more frustrating. But the natural side of the park finally shone through as its location near the south of Georgia means it has tons of water fowl and other birds–egrets, ibises, herons, and signature flocks of turkey vultures. More importantly, I finally got to kayak by several alligators as I entered the cypress-filled Little River area. I did my first state park camping there and had a pleasant experience with that. There are trails of pine and moss-draped oaks that lead to a boardwalk by the river (unfortunately closed by hurricane damage when I was there). Bonus experience, the park is a protected habitat for the gopher tortoise and there were two who had made burrows right by my camp site!
