Providence Canyon
by rmajor
The third stop on my Canyon Climbers Club tour was Providence Canyon. This is often referred to as “The Little Grand Canyon.” The canyon is actually a big erosion gully caused by poor farming practices.
One of the most baffling things I ran into upon my descent into the canyon was figuring out where the trail was. The trail led to the creek bed and was visible continuing on the other side, but there was no hint of a footbridge or any other way to cross. The creek bed looked like something I would instantly mire up in if I stepped in it. That turned out not to be the case. The creek bed is hard packed sand and easily held my weight. For much of the hike into the 9 branches of canyons, the creek bed itself is the trail.
One of the remarkable features of Providence Canyon is the braided pattern in the creek bed.
To fulfill the requirements of the Canyon Climbers Club, I only needed to hike into Canyon #5. I chose to wander into all 9 of them, and each has its own special beauty.
As I climbed out of the canyon and followed the loop trail on around, I came upon an area where there are some abandoned vehicles in the woods.
These have obviously been there for a while.
Following the trail back around to the parking lot, I was rewarded with some very nice views from the rim. The location of the rim keeps changing. I heard the park ranger tell a lady they lose 4 or 5 feet off the rim to erosion every year. She asked if there was anything they could do to stop it. He said, “No, we just have to let nature take its course.”