Jennings Florida KOA

I'm afraid we did nothing blog worthy today. We generally stop at a commercial campground, every once in a while, in order to do laundry. That's why we are here and that's what we did. We are just barely into Florida.  Tomorrow we head to a state park that has variety of recreational opportunities. We will be there several days, in fact, our next stop is kind of the reason we are doing this trip. More on that tomorrow. 

Cultural highlights

We pretty much had the day off today. Quite a bit of rain last night which is a 'sleep late' motivator. After lunch we headed into Omaha to a highly advertised brewery. Not a lot going on. The building was huge as was the parking lot. I asked about the seeming disconnect between small town Omaha and really large brewery and the answer was Fort Benning. It's down the road about 30 minutes away. I sampled some beer but was unimpressed so we returned to the MP empty handed. Well, Jenny bought a 6 pack of some fruit flavored alcohol water. We move tomorrow. 

Another hike in Providence Canyon

There were several places we didn't get to yesterday so we decided to go back today. The main part of the canyon has worn  down to a very erosion resistant clay-like layer which is the ancient sea bed. The canyon is not getting any deeper and all 16 side canyons drain into this impenetrable canyon bottom. Consequently there is a thin trickle of water flowing on the canyon floor. It's not really deep enough to get your feet wet but in a rain it could get ugly quickly. Good segue! When we got to the trailhead there was an enormous black cloud sitting on the horizon. After some discussion we went anyway. Quickly. We hit a couple of highlights and then we heard our first thunder. It started raining right before we got back to the car. Almost perfect timing. The flower pic is a rare  Plumleaf Azalea. There's another version of the Magnolia down there called the "Umbrella Magnolia". That thing has gargantuan leaves. We saw several leaves over 3 feet long. You'll have to Google that if you're interested. Yeah, that'll happen. We are here all day tomorrow so we might hit some of the cultural highlights of rural Georgia. 

Providence Canyon SP

Providence Canyon SP is located just 8 miles from Florence Marina SP. Providence Canyon is not really a natural formation. Back in the early 1800s, farmers and their underpaid staff, cut down all the trees and cleared the land for cotton. They planted the cotton on the hillsides. Since the roots of the trees and all the other native plants were no longer holding the soil in place, when it rained the soil eroded. After just a few years a significant gully had begun to form. 200 years later the gully is 250 deep in places and covers over 1000 acres. Thank goodness for ignorant farmers, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to enjoy the hike we took today. One reason the erosion was so rapid is because the underlying soil is sand. Many different types and colors of sand. We will return there tomorrow because there are several side canyons we did not explore. More tomorrow. 

Florence Marina SP

This park is near Omaha Georga. I'm pretty sure we drove through Omaha right before we got here but I can't be certain. We are on the shore of 45,000 acre, lake Walter F. George. There is, unsurprisingly, a marina on the lake. During the drive Jenny and I were trying to figure out why wanted to visit this park. There are no hiking or biking trails and the lake isn't very appealing. Well, it turns out, we are only 8 miles from Providence Canyon SP. It is reputed to be Georgia's little Grand Canyon. We heard about Providence Canyon from a guy working the entrance station at a park in Florida that we visited last spring. We made this reservation so long ago that our feeble minds have become hazy. That park has some

hiking so we'll probably head over there tomorrow. We are here for 3 or 4 nights so we might get on the lake. One more thing. There are gobs of trees in this campground but I was able, using skill and cunning, to find a hole in the over story that allowed just enough satellite signal to reach our dish. A small satisfying victory. More tomorrow. 

Cypress tree maze

This park has more miles of paddling trails than hiking trails. We did a couple of the paddling trails today. The trails are marked by 3

inch squares of painted metal that are nailed to trees along the route. Navigating was a challenge. The trees were dense, the (trail?) was narrow and you couldn't see squat. It was probably like paddling through a corn maze. We were able to maintain the route for the most part. I was pretty glad that we found our way back to the MP because at one point I was wondering if that was going to happen. We move tomorrow. 

George L. Smith State Park Ga.

We have just begun a short fall getaway. We will be out 3 weeks staying entirely in Georgia and Florida. This park is only a couple of hours from home. The centerpiece of the park is a 450 acre mill pond that is almost choked with Cypress trees. Our campsite is mere feet from the water. I pumped up my inflatable paddleboard after we got set up and followed one of the 3 paddling trails that have been marked through the trees. It was pretty cool. We have a kayak on the roof of the forester so tomorrow Jenny and I will do some exploring. We are only here for 2 nights.