Caledon State Park — Attraction in Dahlgren

We visited on a Friday afternoon in early October 2024. There is no booth at the front of the park but a drop box. So, make sure to pay or have your VA State Park Annual Pass. We drove straight to the Park Office/Visitor Center. It is in the old house. Work was being done on the outside during our visit. There were picnic tables under large trees out front, great place to have a nice picnic. It was a very cool and overcast day when we visited. The visitor center itself was much nicer than we expected. When walking in, to the left is the park store. Not as well stocked as other VA State Parks we’ve visited. We got our hiking medallion, pins, and patches. They had clothes, hats, and other typical park store items including drinks. There were 2 rangers at the front desk and answered all our questions. To the right, there is a room with historical antique furniture that says, “do not sit”. Walk through to the back, there is a large area with nature displays. To the left there is a large room and to the right there is the Discovery Room adjacent to the bathroom. They had a few items you were allowed to touch, however there weren’t any live animals. The kids spent 5-10 mins in there looking at everything. Our goal for this park was to hike Boyd’s Hole Trail. It’s not exactly a loop but more like a lollipop shape. You hike down to the fork and then pick a way and you eventually come back on the other. There were signs posted that said the trail was closed due to portions of it being flooded but the rangers inside said they haven’t had a chance to remove the sign as it was for a few days prior when it had rained for a couple days straight (Hurricane Helene). There was also a NEW trailhead that started from middle of parking lot. It was very nice and paved with aggregate rock. We saw the previous trailhead which was much steeper and see why they did this. You could also technically enter the trail by walking down the parking lot road for the staff vehicles only which was easier but I’m sure they didn’t want people walking by all their work vehicles etc. There are fun painted trail makers with 0.5 mile increments. The start/finish marker is a little bit into the trail head from the parking lot. It provided a nice gauge of distance during the hike. The majority of the trail is pretty large (8 to 10 ft across ). It was well maintained. We hiked all the way down to the waterfront of Boyd’s Hole Trail, where they said you could find shark teeth. Kids were really excited about that but didn’t find any. They looked for a good 10-15 mins. We're interested in scoping the beach out as this is where you can kayak to. We are planning a kayaking trip where we launch at Leesylvania State Park and go down to Widewater State Park and eventually to Caledon State Park. There is a nice kayak stand by the water along with picnic tables. The stand holds 4 kayaks/canoes easy. The only downside is by the water there were a lot of small biting insects including a few mosquitos. We saw a roped off and outlined area to the right up a bit and wondered if those were the campsites for the folks who would kayak in. It's not marked on trail maps. There are no rentals at this site, all the infrastructure was for those kayaking or canoeing in. I don’t think you could bring a car all the way down here either unless maybe you got permission from park staff. It's wide enough. There is a new trash can holder but no bathroom at this site. There is another boat launch further East at Jones Pond Loop that says there is a bathroom and actual campsites, but we didn’t hike over there. We finished the trail and hiked back out. It took us about 90 mins and that included looking around on the beach for a while. Overall, there were a ton a trails here that we would love to come back and do. Also want to check out the Jones Pond Loop to see how the camping area looked over there and the Caledon Marsh Trail. We are working on our VA State Park Trail Quest, and this is our 19th...

The park recently had a wine event within its property. Upon arrival after them collecting money for parking which I'm totally againest. You charge for all items in the event and also charge to park. Little much in my opinion. Now after parking the building and grounds look dated, old, in need of refurbishments. Plant life was maintained but again dated and in need of refurbishment. The wine event apparently went well as several really over intoxicated women were seen in the parking lot attempting to make it to thier cars, several I made comments to security about not letting them drive in thier condition but went without concern apparently. I myself as a DD made sure the 6 women I dropped off did not attempt to drive , so I feel I saved a life by being a DD. Other then the intoxicated women it appears the event went well..........Response to park response.........yes I get the park runs in donations or fees charged for events but I also think vendors pay fees to have events in grounds or at least should. The plant life has a rotation of life it lives then dies. That's the refurbishment I speak of. If it's dead then it's not coming back. The county or counties these parks are in collect a huge amount of taxes for schools from resident in means of property taxes yet our youth becomes what's a good word to use here........less smart....let's use that even though everyone knows what it really means .there are ways to collect or that should be collected and I support this theory, less taxes for schools as they are learning far less then a decade prior, more funds allocated for history or what was part of our history and past, more funds to take care of our past , history, and this should include parks and recreation. Northern counties are supported by the county for such as should counties around king george,, Stafford, Spotsylvania so forth. But these funds have to be sought after, fought for. I'm not complaining about the nice vehicles as they are needed to perform, I'm just saying be strong with words and request and focus on that for budgets and expenditures. I also know a person sitting at a desk does not know what goes in outside that office no matter what they say. Basically what I'm saying I guess is I understand funds only go so far that are allocated. But that's what a desk job does. I'm not busting on the park just saying things need to be done. I understand why they aren't, maybe I should of made that clearer. But I also understand if we yell loud enough someone will hear you. Maybe that's just me, I don't take no or I can't for answers. As for things being old and rustic or lived fully , maybe, but I feel that isn't true for everything. Just my opinion. Foliage is eye attractive and can set a tone for what the eye sees next is all I'm saying. Words such as spruce up or rotation or anuals verses perennials all words used to describe what is seen throughout a park. Lastly I believe as in life of Humans as things move forward are replaced , foliage also requires the same thought, old or not. Just because it's past its prime or thought of age doesn't mean it looks good. I also understand what looks good to you might not look good to me or the next person...but all this is just...

I just returned from a weekend excursion at Caledon State Park and I am very pleased with my experience. I arrived there on Fri June 3rd and left today (June 5th). I had some difficulty making the hike out to the campground, but that was my fault because I realized now I packed too much stuff and the cart I was using was not well adapted for trail use. I also hauled 6 gals of water as there is no potable water at the campground. However once I got there, man o man is it beautiful. Right on the Potomac river, the site is well maintained the campsites are large and generous and each one has a large picnic table and a heavy duty fire ring. I was at campsite 6 and I loved it. It stayed very well shaded for the majority of the day and even during high noon when the sun was directly above me I always had a shaded spot to retreat to. The weather was lovely it was 80s during the day and 60s at night, I loved it! There are two handicapped accessible porta-pottys as well as a kiosk for firewood if needed. It operated on the honor system and one bundle of wood lasted me all weekend as I supplemented it with Driftwood from the beach and dead tree limbs collected from the ground. There are a couple of trash cans there which I suggest you use daily as there was plenty of wildlife around that would love to get into your food scraps. I saw deer, fox, bald eagles, and I heard coyote calls at night. I was able to get a ride back to my car which saved me lots of aggravation, ( Thanks Justin!) 9 out of 10 I'd go back...