This was the most difficult trip to coordinate by far. I initially envisioned doing all these adventures with my friends. Part of my goal was to explore and share my adventures with friends to spend more quality time with them. With it being November, the weather shifting, and the busyness of the holiday seasons, I found many of my friends unable to join me. Wanting to be flexible, I decided to alter the date of my trip to allow more of my friends to go. A couple of days before we were rescheduled to go, 2 of the main people that I rescheduled for bailed on me. Since they were 2 of my closest friends, I was upset, especially because they did so without seemingly good reason or an apology. I almost got so irritated that I debated even going anymore. However, if I had let this ruin my trip, I would have missed out on my most favorite adventure to date. Out of all the places on the list of Georgia’s 7 Natural Wonders, this is the dirtiest of all the spots (literally – filled with dirt). I had to run my shoes and clothes through the washing machine twice after returning home.
Providence Canyon is in South Georgia with Columbus being the closest city we drove through with about 45 minutes remaining until we got to the park. One of the things that I have started to recognize is that growing up in the Atlanta area is very different than many of the rural parts of Georgia. Many of these natural wonders are in pretty small towns with not much around them in comparison to where I call home.
The total trip down was around 3 hours, but the day was beautiful. This coupled with my friend’s music playlists made the trip drive go by much faster. I had 2 people with me and 3 others coming to meet with us, including my best friend driving up from Valdosta. It was a group of mixed friends, so I was honestly a little nervous about the group chemistry. (We all know sometimes certain friends just do not mix). However, it is something about the outdoors that seems to just bring people together, and I quickly realized that I had nothing to worry about with my people. Once we all got to the Canyon, we looked around the top before walking down to the bottom of the canyon to explore. Visiting the canyon in the fall provided a beautiful palette of colors for viewing as we looked out at shades of oranges, browns, tans, reds, and greens. The weather also found itself being around 72 degrees in mid-November, which was unexpected. The bottom of the canyon felt like a pretty steep walk down. Once we got to the bottom, there were various trails to explore different part of the canyons. We walked around aimlessly just taking in the sights as we went. There were different areas where you could climb up the walls of the canyon, and we took every opportunity to do so, going up and down the different spaces and walls of the canyon.
At one point, we were so close to the top of the canyon that we were only a couple of feet from the actual top edge where other visitors were looking down into the canyon and had a quick conversation with some people standing at the top. As a marker of my adventure, I carved my name into a piece of the canyon wall near the top, although I am sure that nature has probably managed to wipe it away by now. Looking out from near the top of the canyon, I truly felt in awe of nature itself. Erosion had created the space that I was sitting and enjoying. It was so beautiful that I felt like I was sitting in the midst of a painted picture, but it was created by nature and erosion. I thought to myself, “Look at what God made.”
The coolest moment of the trip was finding Georgia red clay. This was my first time gathering clay straight from the earth. It looked white when we first grabbed it. I gathered a small ball of clay for myself. (After sitting at home for a few days afterwards, saw it take its red form.)
One of the toughest things about this trip was finding snacks since we were so far from food places. In September, I transitioned to practicing a vegan diet; so I could not eat at many of the places that we passed. Luckily, there was a Smoothie King in Columbus where we stopped and got snacks on the way back. This trip took all day, but it was worth the experience. Words can only do so much justice to all the views from the canyon.
I am grateful that I made the decision to focus on enjoying the company of those that were willing to travel with me for this trip instead of dwelling on the people that were not present. This made all the difference in truly being able to enjoy Providence Canyon and fully absorb the experience.
What are the things that you are waiting on a friend to do?
Is there someone else that you can ask?
Better yet, what is keeping you from doing it regardless of who comes along, even if that means no one?
Who are the people that you can count as present for you?
Post-Lude
My friends tell me to share more of my thought quotes, so I will also leave you all with this final thought until next time:
“Don’t let people not showing up for you prevent you from doing the things that you want to do and enjoying the people that do show up for you.”
Read more about my challenge to see Georgia’s 7 Natural Wonders:
I used to wait for others before I did things. Sometimes I still push plans back for them and they don’t come through. It can be so upsetting, but mostly I’m upset with myself for not sticking to the original plan and just going, since I almost always go solo anyway. It’s the reason why I just get up and go most days. Even my birthday solo camping trips started during csaa when people were supposed to come with me, I rescheduled, and everyone bailed anyway, so I just went. Best decision ever.
I know them not coming was not a personal thing. It still stings initially but I’ve truly learned to enjoy my own company and the things I do regardless. Now it feels weird if someone tags along and it makes me appreciate their presence that much more!
Jealous of your trip – that was a place I never made it to!
Yes! I have learned with time that it is not personal. I think that was the hardest thing to get over, but I was able to enjoy everything more once I did. I have definitely adopted this attitude with things outside of my hikes and find myself having to invite people along sometimes to have a good balance of time with friends and time alone. I think it is such a beautiful thing when we are able to find enjoyment with just ourselves!
Don’t be jealous friend. You’re living your international adventure, and the canyon will still be here. Hopefully you’ll make it one day! 🙂