Florence Marina State Park

This is our last stop on this trip – we arrived here at Florence Marina State Park on the west side of Georgia around 5pm (seems to be our arrival time most of the days).  We have travelled from northern Alabama to Georgia.  This park we visited about 10 years ago when we had Jimbo (and no other dogs).  We brought our cat, Torie, home from this park on that trip – this time we didn’t see any stray cats thank goodness!

This leg of our trip was 273 miles.

A good portion of it was on the interstate, but once we got off the interstate, seems like we were travelling a good amount of road that was in the ‘middle of nowhere’. 

Along the way we stopped for gas and I saw this big peach!

My concern was that we needed to ensure we had a full tank of gas when we arrived at this park because I didn’t recall there being much nearby.  Just before we crossed the water, going into Georgia we found a small store with a gas station (pumps from the 1970s!).  After getting gas and an ice cream sandwich, we cross the water into Georgia and back to Eastern time zone. After setting up our camp, we walked across the field to watch the sun set.

That night we searched for a ‘dark place’ in this park.  Needless to say, they have lights everywhere!  We did find a place that was somewhat dark, and I took some photographs of the night sky.  A quick Google search indicates that this is the milky way which is visible in Georgia in October from about 8pm till 10pm (the timeframe we were out there).

We stayed here for 2 nights – I wanted a day to go back and visit the Providence Canyon State Park which is about 8 miles up the road from Florence Marina.  Providence Canyon doesn’t have rv camping, so this is the place most people camp.  We had gone there our first trip to this park.

Early the next morning, I got up and started walking the dogs.  My original intent was to take them out in this field, but it was pretty early and I could see deer were over there (and the dogs started to notice also).  So, we walked around the campground area by the miniature golf course and back to our campsite instead.

The Campground

I really liked this campground.  It was nice to have the little golf course, but we didn’t get a chance to rent the clubs from the ranger station and play a round – hopefully we will get a chance to come back here and camp in the future – and maybe play that round.

Why I liked the campground:

1. The entire campground has trees making it shady
2. There are several big open areas to enjoy. Also great for walking the dogs
3. They have electric, water and sewer hookups
4. The campsites were well taken care of and we had a nice site with a picnic table (I think most of the campsites have a picnic table – especially state parks)
5. Friendly neighbors and a friendly camp host
6. Ranger station was nice as well as the staff
7. The bath house was nice.  Appeared relatively new and included laundry area

Our campsite.  We were on the curve, so our campsite was a little different.  Very close to the people that were behind us (you see in this photo) but not so close to anyone on the left of the truck.

The big field was directly in front of our campsite.

The bath house is centrally located to most of the campsites in the campground.  This is looking from our campsite.  There is parking in front which I used when I was taking the laundry over there.

They have a fairly new gazabo nearby as well as benches where you can sit and see the sunset.

Providence Canyon State Park

The beginning of the hike is by the visitor center at this park.  It is a good walk down hill and probably isn't for those that aren't used to hiking.  We didn't have any issues with it but there are signs to caution people before starting out on the trail.

After a short hike, you will be at the canyon floor and can view several of the canyons from the bottom.  Abby and Ollie were with me while Jim had Rue.  The girls are looking out....so what's next?

I noticed that there appear to be a lot more signs telling people to stay off the canyons than I remembered from a number of years ago.  The entire canyon was created by bad farming practices back in the 1800s.  Over time, water has eroded a good portion of the stone and left the canyons behind.  This particular park has been referred to as "Little Grand Canyon" by many - I originally found this park when it was featured in a copy of the Outdoor Photographer magazine (which is no longer in publication).

I asked Abby to pose because I had asked Jimbo to do the same so many years ago.

Below we got all three of the girls to sit in front of the 'slot canyon' that you can walk inside and look up in.

Rue couldn't hold her pose anymore - she is almost always the first to break away and come running back!

We did another trail while we were there, the 3 mile white trail - this took you to some of the other canyons.  We walked that trail hoping to get another view of the canyons from the top.  Interesting enough, we did run into some old cars that were rusted out, but we didn't see another view of the canyons until we were back at the day use area.  In other words, if you just want to view the canyons from the top, stop at the day use area - don't take the hike with that expectation.

We returned back mid-afternoon after enjoying a day of hiking at Providence Canyon.

The next morning, the dogs and I took our final walk at this park and enjoyed the quiet of the early morning hours.  Soon, we would be heading home.  

For more photographs from our stay at Florence Marina State Park, click here.

I will have one more blog post from this trip which will show a few photographs from the drive home and give some insights into the trip overall.

I hope that those of you viewing the photographs and reading the posts have enjoyed them - there will be more as we are already planning some additional trips!