Georgia's Little Grand Canyon is listed as one of the state's seven wonders. The Providence Canyon and its 1,100 acre state park is located nearby Lumpkin. The park's attraction is the colorful, 150 foot deep gorge and more than a dozen side canyons. Both, the Grand Canyon and Providence Canyon are erosional in nature, but that's were the comparison ends. Providence Canyon is no match for the Grand Canyons statistics, but makes up with its natural beauty. A result of poor farming techniques, soft sandy soils and reddish clay loams, erosion of the canyon was substantially complete in a century. In contrast, Colorado's Grand Canyon has taken eons to carve a chasm over a mile in depth.
Providence sand was laid down in the Cretaceous Period, about 70 million years ago. The deep upper layer is heavily stained with iron oxide that has seeped into underlying layers. Some layers are mixed with clay, called kaolin. Forty-eight different colors are spread throughout the canyon, with mineral staining by mica, limonite and manganese. These soft clays and sand deposits are easily eroded, and heavy rainstorms are constantly changing these scenic wonders.