Petersburg National Battlefield — Attraction in Virginia

One of the problems visiting a National Park in the off season (April 2023) is some things are closed. The visitor centers at City Point, Western Front and Five Forks were all closed. As long as you have a map, all the sites had great interpretative signs to explain the locations. The Eastern Front Visitor center was well worth a visit. The Easter Front interesting sites were the Siege Encampment Exhibit and the Crater. Initially, I found the crater disappointing because it was just a depression in the ground. I was fortunate to attend Ranger Katelyn Dodge's Crater lecture. She explained the land where the Crater has located was private before the park service purchased it. It was hard to believe the land was once a golf course. After finishing the Crater's land history, Ranger Dodge rewound history and took us to day of battle. I have read about the Crater battlefield many times, but her lecture made...

This would be a really cool NPS site, but the auto trail was closed. The entire site is organized around the 3 mile long auto trail that take you through many of the historic locations (7 sites in total I think). There are hiking trails that diverge from the auto trail. Since nothing was accessible by car due to the auto trail being closed, we were required to walk/bike everywhere in the park. This just wasn’t feasible for us so we weren’t able to see much. Luckily the Crater is at the end of the auto trail so we parked at Seven Eleven and walked into the park at the end of the auto trail. I would like to do this park one day when the car route is open.

The Bark Ranger program for dogs is cool though. My dog and I had to take an oath to respect the park. They gave my dog a nice badge...

Here's another great place I've heard about but never have gone to. Thanks Corona for extending my horizons. Once you're there find the Siege Rd and drive to Encampment Loop. It's not labelled, but you know you've arrived when you come upon a huge grass field with cannons. Park and walk or drive a little further until you see a crosswalk w a historical sign on the left. On the right is the trail leading back into the woods. This easy trail loop is about 3.4 miles. I enjoyed the first part as it is a dirt path alongside a ravine with a clear, flowing creek. Other areas incl paved or crushed gravel. If you have a GPS or AllTrails app you can find additional connecting trails to extend your hiking. I did and found Harrison Creek trail to be pleasant as well and...