As tourists drive through the Vicksburg National Military Park, they’ll often see locals walking, running and cycling through the park.

Competitive triathlete Lisa Burkhalter said for every way there is to travel through the park, you get a completely different experience.

“When you are out on a bike or running through here, you really notice, especially the blue signs and the red signs,” she said. “These guys were shooting across at each other, and they were maybe 50 yards from one another. It’s just amazing when you get out and really experience the park outside of your car.”

Burkhalter said she never knows what she’s going to see on her trips to the park, including a variety of wildlife.

“How many people see turkeys on their run? Not to mention the deer,” she said. “This morning, I saw a baby chipmunk. It was the cutest thing.”

Although she lives just around the corner from the park, she said she sees birds in the park she doesn’t see at her home, and there’s some birds she sees more often on the South Loop than other loops.

“I recognize something new all the time,” she said. “I am here six days a week, every week of the year, without fail, and I find new things all the time.”

Burkhalter said one of her favorite things is in the fall, when the muscadines start falling.

“It’s like little treats,” she said. “It’s the little things like that.”

Burkhalter said she loves the park and she loves how convenient it is.

“It’s just so peaceful and wonderful,” she said. “There’s so much history and beauty. It’s a great place to come to.”

Paul Ingram, a recreational cyclist, said he rides his bike about once a week in the park.

“The thing that’s really, really nice about it, is if you know the park layout, you can pick your own regimen, your own intervals,” he said. “If you just want to do some riding, you can go to the flats and ride around in some circles. Then, if you’re really feeling up to it, you can do the Fort Hill Loop, then you have the choice to do the South Loop; there’s just so many options.”

Ingram said safety is another factor when looking at exercising at the park.

“There’s not as much automobile traffic,” he said. “You drive to the park, and your chances of getting hit by an automobile are greatly reduced. That’s the No. 1 thing. It’s safer.”

Burkhalter said the park is somewhere women can feel comfortable working out, even if they’re alone.

“It’s good, especially for women when we’re working out alone, because there’s constant traffic,” she said. “I don’t ever feel unsafe here. There’s always park rangers coming through.”

Ingram said although the park is a magnet for runners and cyclists, those looking for exercise must also remember the mission of the park.

“Exercise in the park has to accommodate the memorial,” he said. “People who exercise in the park, and there’s a lot of them, have to respect the operations and the tourists and sometimes help the tourists.”

Medley Fowler and a group of other seniors meet to walk in the park in the early mornings, taking advantage of their senior passes. Anyone 62 or older can purchase a senior pass for $10, and the pass never expires.

“I can go back 70 years and say I’ve used the park for a lot of things in my lifetime,” she said. “But now I just mainly use it to walk in.”

For the last 20 years, Fowler and her friends have walked six days a week in the park.

“When we were younger, we were doing three or four miles a day, but now that we’ve gotten older, we’re doing two,” she said. “It’s a good place to exercise.”