Labor Day stroll.

Labor Day had us travelling to Allerton Park for a quick hike through half of their trails. 

As you travel through the woods you come upon a clearing. It appears that there is a statue of a mytical beast within it. What do you do?
Enter the clearing. turn to page 47
Walk down the other path. turn to page 15

This is not the longest place to walk/hike but what it lacks in total distance, it makes up for in really neat scenery.

The trails are easy and clear cut. This is low land hiking and that means bring bug spray. There are lots of buggies here and they will be all over you without some kind of repellent.

The main reason to come here must be the gardens and various sculptures. Sure you can hike, but the trails are not as aesthetically pleasing as everything else in this place.

 The middle of one trail has a sculpture called the “Death of the Last Centaur.” As you approach from two directions there are columns with urns atop them that you walk by. Then down a path to a clearing to see this statue. It is a really cool walk up toward the statue location. Being a gaming nerd it was even cooler as it really felt like something that would be in any of your fantasy RPG’s.

There is a giant statue called the “Sun Singer.” It stands atop a large dais and is singing to the sun, or doing a naked touchdown signal. You decide.

An old cemetery is off the road/bike path. Here are several worn gravestones from the early to mid-1800’s.

The breeze was just strong enough to make the trees creak and add a bit of ambient creepy noise here.

There is an amphitheater that would be great for gladiatorial combat (or ceremonies for the less imaginative).

There is a great hedge wall that connects two of the gardens together. This hedge wall has small openings so you can walk inside the wall. It was very Goblet of Fire and The Shining.

center of the hedge statue

inside the hedge wall

koi pond  walkway sphinx

GREEN MAN!

Assyrian lions atop pillars guarding the garden entrance

All that is missing is a sweet hedge maze.

I was really impressed by this park. I thought it sounded hoity-toity at first, with the statue and gardens bit, but once there it was damn descent.