Top of the Morning, April 27, 2024

Want to purchase today’s print edition? Here’s a map of single-copy locations.

Alison Allender was but a tyke when she was introduced to Allerton Park, her parents lugging her around on long walks in a baby carrier.

Some four decades later — and now living in Monticello — she’s still finds the many trails to be “very theraputic.”

It’s fitting that Allender was the first person to finish all nine trails — about 15 miles — as part of the HIKE ALLerton program. She did it all last Sunday, accompanied part of the way by the family’s labs, Obi and Oskee. “It wasn’t that strenuous,” she said, “but I was ready to sit afterward.”

The 45-year-old band director at Monticello High School is a regular at Allerton and has hiked every trail many times — “but never non-stop,” she said. For hoofin’ it, she received a T-shirt and a shoutout from the folks at Allerton.

Registration for HIKE ALLerton ends Wednesday with a commitment to finish by the end of the year.

Allender needed only four hours, inspired by colorful signs of spring along the way. “I woke up Sunday and the weather was good,” she said. “Any time I’nm in nature and hiking, it’s a benefit.”