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| - After years living in C-U and meaning to go to Allerton, I finally made the trip this weekend. The park is beautiful. It is quiet, serene, and offers some great hiking. The several hours I was out there offered me only a small glimpse of what the park has to offer, and I'm looking forward to my next trip and even more exploration.
The big beef I have with Allerton is that it is not very well maintained. Many of the sculptures and buildings are worn and could use a fresh coat of paint. But still, that kind of adds to the charm and so I really don't have a problem with it. What was a problem is the complete lack of maintenance on the trails. The maps are not entirely accurate and make it difficult to figure out where exactly you are and how far it is to the nearest point of interest. The woods are incredibly thick and there were points where I was a little uneasy due to not knowing exactly where we were or how far it was back to the visitor's center. There are some signs on the trails, but only at intersections between different trails and the plastic covers on the posted maps are so old and damaged that you can't actually see most of the maps. This requires one to take some guesses and hope that you are headed in the direction you want to go. There are mile markers, but again, it's really hard to tell where they are headed or what the destination point is. It's nice to know that going left is 2.2 miles and going right is .8 miles, but I need to know where I'll end up at the end of that 2.2 or .8 miles. I won't go so far as to say that this lack of reliable trail markings is dangerous, but as it started to get later in the day, I definitely had some concerns about making it back to my car before dark. Although it wasn't an issue for me, there's potential for a pretty serious problem when one cannot accurately discern whether a particular trail or route is going to be beyond one's physical ability to hike.
There were also a lot of fallen trees and piles of sticks from the recent heavy rains blocking the trail. While this kind of added to the experience, I could see how it would be a problem for those hiking with children or dogs or something. The bugs were out of control, which is to be expected, so be sure to wear long pants and sleeves and bring plenty of bug spray. It should go without saying that you should also pack plenty of water and a few granola bars in case you end up hiking further than expected.
If they'd clean up the trails, update the markers and maps, and put enough markers on the trails so that it's easy to figure out where you're at, Allerton would get an easy 5 stars. But until that time I'm not comfortable giving more than 3, and I wouldn't recommend venturing very far from the visitor's center with children, pets, or anyone not in good physical shape.
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