Random Rambler: Allen Park: Fall

Allen Park is a somewhat new park in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City. The park features some pretty trees, gardens, statues, and the famous mosaic poems. There are also a bunch of old buildings and some peacocks as well. Before the city purchased it, it was known as Hobbitville by the local teens and was thought to be haunted.

My husband is out of town for some work stuff, so my good friend Elise decided to take me out for the day. I thought we should hit Allen Park up and see if there is any fall color left to enjoy. I try to come here almost every year in late fall.

Quick Details:

Length: About 3/4 of a mile out and back, with a short spur.
Trail Type: Out and back with a short spur.
Difficulty: DR2. It is completely paved and fairly flat.
Elevation Gain: About 25 feet.
Restroom: Not yet. But they plan to put one in.
Dogs? No. They used to be allowed, but a few jerks let their dogs to harass the wildlife so they were banned.
Other Info: There is no parking. They recommend you park at nearby Sugar House Park and walk over from there.

To Get Here:

Take i80 to 13th east and head north for ‘about 8/10 of a mile. Past Sugar House Park, and past 21st south. It will be on the right.

Pretty orange tree as we make our way to the park.

The Trail:

The park gate.

Inside.

Neat old gazebo.

Cute little yard.

One of the peacocks.

Last I saw, there are 3 peacocks, and one chicken. But, we only saw this guy today.

The fancy fountain.

The main Allen Residence. They plan to turn this into the park offices/museum.

Cute little island of greenery in the road.

Headless deer statue.

The Allen Residence.

There is some great color left here.

Another water feature.

One of my favorite mosaic poems. "Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers". I didn't take a picture of all of the mosaic poems since I have done that before. Just a few of my favorites today.

Ye Old George, one of the sons houses. They plan to preserve this one.

I just realized the most dilapidated little house is gone! I knew they were planning to remove it, I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. Considering how slow government moves and all.

One of several gathering areas. They plan to keep this one.

Our favorite mosaic poem. “Summer or winter, day or night, the woods are an ever new delight”. It got knocked down after the rough 2022-23 winter season, I am happy they were able to restore it, and that it wasn't damaged too badly.

This old duplex is what they plan to turn into restrooms.

Another mosaic poem.

Honey locust. The spikes on these tree’s are insane!

Emigration Creek. The culvert we are currently standing above, they plan to remove and put in a bridge instead.

Downstream.

Another little duplex. This one will also be removed, eventually.

Old well. I haven't seen their plans on this yet. I hope they keep it. We don't have a lot of neat old wells like this around here. Naturally, I hope they secure it so it is safe, but keep it.

The Mary Rose. She was one of Dr. Allen’s daughters. They are preserving this one.

Dr. Allen brought these old army barracks into the park and rented them out. The small stature of the duplexes seems to have been the origin point of the Hobbitville myth.

It didn't help that the residents seemed to get a kick out of scaring the local teenagers that dared to try to walk to the end at night.

One of the cute hand painted address signs.

The Roberta. This will be turned into a maintenance building.

The Sally Ann, it will be preserved.

Another address sign.

More fun trees.

Another duplex. This one will be removed.

One of the 3 on the southeast corner that they plan to remove.

The Ethylene will be preserved..

Cute address sign.

Bright splash of color.

One of the southeast 3 to be removed.

Cute address sign.

More color.

One of the cute benches they made with the trees that came down in the windpocolypse of 2020.

More color.

The back of the lot with Emigration Creek.. They propose to continue the trail along it for a bit upstream. I really hope that happens! But for now, this is the end of the line, so time to head back.

For now, the next place to see the creek upstream is in Blaine Natural Area.

The back of the Ethylene.

Cute address sign on the other side.

Neighborhood turned park.

Again.

Another cute address sign.

Crossing the creek again.

Another one of the mosaic poems. “Tis beauty, truly blent”.

The duplex they plan to turn into restrooms again.

Address signs.

“Flowers preach to us if we will hear” This is on one of several old light posts, which they do plan to preserve as well.

Ye Old George again.

“Nature never wear a mean appearance”

The creek below. And, I just realized the reason we can see it here now is because they removed the old house that was here. It certainly does not look like there was enough room for it. It was tiny, but even still. This is nuts!

The parks website says it was closed for a weekend in August for the demolition of the Aviary Structure... so maybe it was not actually a house. Which does make sense because it really was small! And come to think of it, it did kind of look like the structure they hold the peacocks in at Wheeler Farm.

Here is what it looked like in May.

And last November. As you can see a good sneeze would have sent it tumbling down into the creek. So, I guess that is why they made it a priority to demolish.

Little bird cage. Actually a rather large one by bird cage standards.

The bridge over to the Thomas Boam House was damaged during the run off from the epic 2022-23 winter, so they removed it. I didn’t get any better pictures of the historic house today. But they plan to preserve it as well. From the future plans, it looks like the plan is to build a pathway over to it from the bridge to the Ye Old George house.

Back to the main Allen Residence.

The fountain again. I really hope to get to see this flowing in my lifetime.

We decided to explore the south arm real quick.

Cute little archway.

One of the mosaic poems they are trying to keep from toppling like the other one did. I think I share the concern that if it fell from there it might be destroyed.

The Roost. This will also be preserved.

Address signs.

Color.

One of the peacocks. We only saw the 1 again. Like I said, last I heard, there were 3, and a chicken. I wonder where the others are hiding.

“A strong bird on pinions free”

“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty”

Peacock again.

In the pretty garden area.

The cute gazebo again.

I have never noticed this little water feature before.

Pretty color across the street at the Westminster campus.

Pretty red bushes. Reverse image search suggests burning bush shrub.

Another fun visit to Allen Park. It is a neat place! And I am enjoying watching the city’s slow as molasses restoration work. It’s usually not very busy on weekdays, a few more people than normal today, but still, not too bad. 10 out of 10 squirrels.