Full Day Lord of the Rings Mavora Lakes Adventure

Allie and I enjoyed an adventure on South Island of New Zealand (Te Waipounamu) where we retraced the steps taken to film Lord of the Rings trilogy. We toured with Trails of Middle Earth on their Full Day Lord of the Rings Mavora Lakes Adventure.  The tour included multiple filming locations for Lord of the Rings in the general Mavora Lakes region, including the famous Orc Mound, Anduin River and Nen Hithoel.^[1][2] At Mavora Lake, we had a chance to cosplay with Hobbit outfits and authentic replicas of many battle weapons from the Trilogy. Overall experience was positive.

However, while visiting these filming locations was great, the travel between them is a bit rough. This is the nature of travelling around the South Island of New Zealand in this region, especially when you are leaving paved highways behind for a time.  The tour length definitely adds to discomfort as much as the roads themselves since this is a 10 hour tour, with long stretches between locations.  Just be prepared.  One bit of advice is to pack your own lunch, as I found the location where food was available to purchase to be rather lacking.

 

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUefP6dgWfQ/?img_index=1 and https://www.instagram.com/p/DUego49AVOc/?img_index=1

Besides the thrill of discovering so many filming locations in one tour, we also got to see much of the beauty of South Island's mountains and lakes. It feels like New Zealand was always meant to be the location of Middle Earth.

Check out our other explorations around Queenstown on this trip, including arrival to Auckland a day late.

Real-World Games and Player Perspective

Why Physical Games Clarify the Debate

If digital games complicate questions of perspective with cameras, avatars, and simulated worlds, real‑world games strip those ambiguities away. There is no virtual camera, no rendering engine, and no ambiguity about where the player exists in relation to play.

What remains is the core relationship that person actually describes: how the player is positioned relative to action and agency.

When we apply the same player‑centric framework to physical and tabletop games, the mislabeling of digital perspectives becomes immediately obvious. The categories align cleanly without edge cases, caveats or special pleading.

---

First Person: Embodied Physical Play

In first‑person games, the player is the acting body. There is no representational layer.

Examples 

• Tag

• Soccer, basketball, martial arts

• Darts, bowling

• Poker (as bodily participation rather than avatar play)

Perspective Structure

• The player acts directly

• The player’s body is the locus of agency

• There is no token, piece, or proxy

The language of play is unambiguously first person:

I run.

I throw.

I bluff.

No one meaningfully describes these games as issuing commands to a representation. There is no interpretive distance between decision and action.

This is first‑person perspective in its purest form, mapping precisely onto digital first‑person games where avatar and player identity collapse into one.

---

Second Person: Token‑Mediated Play

Second‑person play emerges the moment a personal proxy is introduced.

Examples

• Monopoly

• The Game of Life

• Sorry!

• Most role‑playing board games

Perspective Structure

• The player is personally represented

• Actions are issued to a token

• The token is “you,” but not identical to you

The language shifts naturally:

You move three spaces.

You pass Go.

You go to jail.

No one confuses the plastic token with the player’s physical body. No one treats the token as an unrelated entity either. It is unmistakably you, addressed directly.

This is the exact structural relationship found in traditionally labeled “third‑person” digital games:

• A visible body

• A controllable character

• A personal avatar that can be observed, directed, and positioned

The tabletop world exposes the truth that digital cameras obscure: this is second‑person play.

---

Third Person: Unembodied Command

True third‑person perspective appears when the player has no personal representation at all.

Examples

• Chess

• Checkers

• Go

• Wargames with multiple units per side

Perspective Structure

• No piece represents the player

• All entities are equally external

• The player exists entirely outside the system

The language reflects this detachment:

That piece captured the queen.

These troops were sacrificed units.

That side is losing control of the board.

Even when players identify emotionally with a side or strategy, no single piece is you. The relationship is observational and managerial rather than embodied.

This maps cleanly onto digital strategy games, god games, and simulation titles where the player’s presence is abstract, systemic, or omniscient.

---

Why These Categories Feel Obvious Offline

In physical games, no one argues that Monopoly is “third person” or that chess is “first person.” The distinctions feel intuitive because:

• There is no camera to confuse viewpoint with identity

• Tokens and the actual human self are physically distinct

• Agency is visibly mediated or not

Digital games inherited linguistic categories before these distinctions were fully examined. Real‑world games demonstrate that the confusion is not conceptual, but rather it is terminological.

---

The Consistency Test

A useful diagnostic question emerges:

If this game were played on a table instead of a screen, what would represent the player?

• Your body → First person

• Your personal token → Second person

• Nothing at all → Third person

This test holds across media, genres, and technologies.

---

Implications for Game Analysis

Understanding perspective through real‑world analogs helps clarify:

• Why some games feel intimate despite external cameras

• Why avatar visibility changes player psychology

• Why command‑based games encourage strategic rather than empathetic thinking

• Why VR intensifies embodiment without redefining perspective

Most importantly, it reinforces the fact that perspective is about player–action relationships, not visual framing.

---

Looking beyond

Real‑world games quietly and intuitively preserve the original linguistic meaning of person in the terms of first-, second- and third-person. When we let them inform our understanding of digital play, the long‑standing mislabeling of game perspectives becomes impossible to ignore. The camera never determined perspective; the player's relationship within the game makes that determination.

---

Also see:

• We’ve Been Using “Third-Person” Wrong for 30 Years in Gaming
• A Player-Centric Model of Game Perspective
• Will the Gaming Industry Change Use of FPS and TPS? 

Places I've Visited So Far Winter 2025-2026

It's 2026 and I have expanded the places visited, both within the US and Internationally. I've not expanded travel within Canada and Mexico, so I won't include specific maps for those.

A Player-Centric Model of Game Perspective

From Definitions to Application

The previous article in this series established a narrow but important claim: camera angle does not determine narrative person. "Person" in "first-person" describes who acts, not where the camera viewpoint is placed.

Taking this into consideration, let's apply the concept directly to video games. Doing so requires shifting perspective from what the player sees to how the player is represented within the game system.

This article proposes a player-centric model of perspective and uses it to reëxamine the three categories commonly described as first-person, second-person and third-person.

---

A Player-Centric Definition of Perspective

Rather than anchoring perspective to the camera, this model defines person by the relationship between the player and the acting entity in the game world.

Person	Defining Question	Player Relationship
First	Am I the body acting?	Player and avatar are the same entity
Second	Am I directing a represented “you”?	Player controls a personal avatar
Third	Am I commanding others?	Player is unrepresented in the world

This framework does not replace existing camera terminology. It runs alongside it. A game can still be described as having a first-person perspective with a third-person camera. What changes is how we describe player perspective.

---

First-Person Games: “I Move Here”

In first-person games, the player and the avatar collapse into a single acting subject. There is no meaningful distinction between the decision-maker and the body that carries out those decisions.

Common examples include:

• Doom

• Counter-Strike

• Mirror’s Edge

• Most virtual reality titles

Player intent is expressed directly as action:

I reload.

I lean around the corner.

I jump.

The defining feature is not the absence of a visible character model. It is the absence of narrative distance. The player does not instruct a character. The player acts.

---

The Misnamed Middle: Games Labeled “Third-Person”

Most action and role-playing games are grouped under the label of third-person:

• Tomb Raider

• The Witcher

• God of War

• PUBG

This category is where the traditional terminology begins to fail.

In these games, the player does not fully inhabit the avatar in the way first-person play requires. The character on screen is visible, persistent, and separate. The player does not experience the world as the body. The player directs the body.

The internal language of play reflects this relationship clearly:

You roll.

You climb.

You draw your weapon.

This is not metaphorical. It is structurally second person. The avatar represents the player, but the representation is mediated. The player and the character are not the same acting subject.

What distinguishes this middle category is not camera distance, character visibility, or animation style. It is addressability. The player addresses a personal avatar that exists as an object in the game world.

That distinction matters. A player can empathize with, customize, and narratively identify with an avatar while still relating to it as "you" rather than "I." The presence of dialogue choices, equipment management, and movement commands reinforces this relationship. The player tells the character what to do. The character then does it.

The camera makes this separation obvious, but it does not create it. Even if the camera were forced to overlap the character’s head, the underlying relationship would remain unchanged as long as the player continues to issue instructions to a represented self.

The moment a player can observe their own body as something acted upon, perspective has already shifted away from first person.

This is the core of the mislabeling. These games are neither first-person nor third-person in the narrative sense. They occupy a distinct middle ground that aligns cleanly with second-person structure.

---

True Third-Person Games: “They Move There”

Third-person perspective, in the narrative sense, emerges when the player is not embodied at all.

Strategy and command-based games provide clear examples:

• Civilization

• X-COM

• Command & Conquer

• StarCraft

Here, the player does not control a personal avatar. Instead, they direct multiple agents, units, or factions.

The language of play naturally changes:

They advance the unit.

They lose morale.

They capture the city.

Even when the game provides a narrative role such as ruler, commander, or overseer, that role is abstract. No single entity in the game world stands in for the player.

This aligns cleanly with third-person narration in literature. The player observes and directs, but does not inhabit.

---

A Shift in Perspective

Reframing game perspective around player representation reveals a gap in the familiar terminology. What has long been labeled third-person gameplay occupies a distinct middle ground that matches second-person structure far more closely than third.

This does not mean existing labels must be discarded. It does mean they should be understood as describing cameras rather than perspective.

The next article in this series steps away from digital games entirely. By examining board games and other real-world play, it becomes easier to see why camera-based definitions were always an awkward fit.

Continue to Part III: Real-World Games and Player Perspective. 

3DEXPERIENCE World 2026

January 31 - February 4, 2026, 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026 was a great experience (dare I say "3DEXPERIENCE") and gathering in Houston, TX at George R. Brown Convention Center, with awesome Keynote speakers like Jensen Huang and Pablos Holman.  Some visited locations include Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse, Joystix Games, Cidercade, NASA Johnson Space Center, and Walker Street Kitchen.

We’ve Been Using “Third-Person” Wrong for 30 Years in Gaming

A Comfortable Mistake

Video games are routinely sorted into neat perspective boxes: first-person and third-person. The terms feel intuitive, established, and beyond dispute. An FPS shows what the character sees. A third-person game shows the character from the outside. A second-person game doesn't truly exist, per se. Case closed. 

Except that this framing quietly borrows language from literature and then uses it incorrectly.

In grammar and narrative theory, person is not about camera placement. It is about who is the acting subject. Once we apply that definition consistently, a strange realization emerges: what the games industry has long called third-person does not actually describe a third-person relationship at all.

This article is the first in a short series. Its purpose is not to reclassify games yet, but to clear conceptual ground. Before we can argue about first, second, or third person in games, we need to be precise about what those terms mean.

---

Camera Angle Is Not Narrative Person

Before redefining perspective, one clarification is essential: camera angle does not establish narrative person.

Games inherited the terms first-person and third-person largely through visual analogy. The distinction became shorthand for what the player sees on screen, not for how the player is positioned within the system of action. This shortcut made the terminology easy to teach, but conceptually unstable.

In literature and narrative theory, a scene can be described from any imaginable vantage point without changing grammatical person. A third-person novel may describe events from directly behind a character’s eyes. A second-person text may position the reader outside their body. A first-person account may briefly describe the narrator from an external viewpoint for dramatic effect.

The camera, or its literary equivalent, does not determine personhood.

By tying person to camera placement, game discourse quietly collapsed two distinct ideas:

• Cinematography: where the viewpoint is located

• Narrative person: who the acting subject is

Untangling these concepts is the key to understanding why the familiar labels begin to break down under closer inspection.

---

What “Person” Actually Means

In language and literature, person refers to the relationship between the speaker and the subject of action:

• First person: I act ("I walk down the road")

• Second person: You act ("You open the door")

• Third person: They act ("She draws her sword")

Person describes agency and identity, not point of observation. It answers a simple question: who is doing the acting?

This definition has remained stable across centuries of grammar, rhetoric, and narrative theory. What changes from medium to medium is not the meaning of person, but the techniques used to express it.

Game terminology drifted away from this definition by anchoring person to the camera rather than to player representation. Once that shift occurred, the labels continued to function socially even as they lost their original precision.

---

Clearing the Ground

At this stage, no games need to be reclassified. The only claim established here is a foundational one: camera placement and narrative person are not the same thing.

If person is understood as a question of who acts rather than where the camera sits, the familiar categories of game perspective become less stable and more interesting. Some labels begin to feel strained. Other labels begin to feel incomplete.

The next article in this series builds on this groundwork by proposing a player-centric definition of perspective and applying it directly to video games.

Continue to Part II: A Player-Centric Model of Game Perspective.

Express Your Message as Atomic Weights

The Element Cipher transforms your words into strings of element names and then converts those to numbers that are based on the atomic weights for those elements. It’s a fun little chemistry-themed encoder. Type a phrase and watch it translate into a sequence of elemental values that hides your message in plain sight. Decode it back and your text reappears from the atomic haze!

Element Cipher

Converts text to atomic masses (3-digit format) and back.

Message to Cipher/Decipher (English or 3-digit string)

Note on Numerals: Numerals (0-9) are not supported for encoding. Please spell out the words.

Cipher Output / Deciphered Result (Click or tap to copy)

Trail 44 South Mesa

South Mesa has a good loop trail and lots of interconnecting trails with many other areas.  The loop takes you from the trailhead and around the South Mesa. Technically, this is not the route shown in 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder, but it still a nice hike with good views.  The hike starts out with thick brush, but transitions to forest on the Westside of the Mesa, as you switch from Mesa Trail to Homestead Trail before returning to the trailhead.

This is a good hike for dogs. The Mesa Trail, in particular, being fairly wide and well-maintained. There are come connector trails that do not allow dogs. These are very narrow and rocky.

We visited these trails in Fall. I wonder how this location blossoms in late Spring.

Tool that Rounds to the Nearest Fraction

When working in trades like carpentry, machining or cooking, you often run into decimal measurements that are difficult or impossible to translate to a standard ruler, tape measure, or measuring cup. Sometimes, you just need to work with fractions.

While a CAD program might output a required component hole as 0.6875 inches, a person on the shop floor needs to select a tool or check a dimension using the common fraction 11/16 inches. Similarly, scaling a recipe can result in awkward numbers like 0.833 cups, which is much easier to manage when converted to a practical fraction like 5/6 or the nearest standard measuring cup size. Below is the tool that is designed to bridge that gap by converting any decimal into its closest usable fraction.

The Fractional Rounding Tool (below) takes any decimal number and, based on your chosen level of granularity (the maximum denominator, such as 1/8 or 1/16), it determines the nearest possible fraction. This is essential because it allows you to standardize your precision and use common measuring instruments effectively. You also have full control over the rounding method, which dictates how the tool handles numbers that fall exactly halfway between two fractions. This is a great feature when working with tolerances, negative numbers or specific industry standards like rounding half up or half even. Use the tool below to instantly convert your decimal plans into measurable, actionable fractions.

Fractional Rounding Tool 📏

Decimal Number to Round (e.g., 4.375)

Round to the Nearest Fraction (Max Denominator)

Nearest 1/2 Nearest 1/4 Nearest 1/8 Nearest 1/16 (Standard Measure) Nearest 1/32 Nearest 1/64 Nearest 1/10 (Metric) Nearest 1/100

Rounding Mode (Determines how to choose the nearest numerator)

0: Round Up 1: Round Down 2: Round Ceil 3: Round Floor 4: Round Half Up (Standard) 5: Round Half Down 6: Round Half Even (Banker's) 7: Round Half Ceil

Rounded Fractional Result (Simplified)

For information on other tools and topics:

• Futhorc Runic Bi-Directional Converter: Turn your message in to First Millennium runes and back! [Try out this rune conversion tool on your own messages.]

• Earth's Looming Expiration Date: Why Earth faces an early deadline as Sun's energy output increases. [Idea on how to preserve our planet] 

• Number Rounding Tool: This the rounding tool that you didn't know you need! Multiple methods of rounding are supported. [Type Your Number and Round it up or down!]

Trail 33 Chautauqua Park

Chautauqua Park is a great mountainside park with various interconnecting hiking trails of easy to hard classes. Allie and I have been here many times. We almost never hike the same combination of trails. In fact, I don't think we've hiked the specific trail choices mentioned in 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder. Segments of the trails are in shade, while other segments are exposed.  There are great views of Flatirons and Boulder. This park is particularly dog friendly, though dogs need to be leashed.

This past summer, an eagle flew right by me at eye-level within 10 feet as it zoomed past. The eagle was so quiet that I didn't even know it was flying near me until it was already at its closest, right before I felt the air being pushed aside by the flapping of its wings. I was able to get one photo of it flying away.

Trail 14 North Table and Mesa Top

Though it's mostly exposed, one of my favorite hiking areas is North Table and its various trails. The easier trail loop is described in 60 HIkes Within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder as "a brief hike straight up the side of this iconic mesa (North Table) leads to a unique experience atop an ancient lava flow that feels like a tabletop." The hardest segment to hike for the mesa top trails is the initial slope right up the side of the mesa cliffs. It's steep by hiking trail standards, as it was originally an access road for a now abandoned quarry at the top. Once you are on top of the mesa, the trails have very little elevation change. It's a hike for the views.  Hiking in late Spring will give you a chance to see many different flowers in bloom.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjyU2fHnvNH/, https://www.instagram.com/p/BVDUg0sFjIZ

However, there's also the North Table Loop. This is a more challenging and long trail that continues around the mesa along it's slopes in a full loop. I've hiked this trail once. It's a lot tougher. I may hike this trail again, but better prepared with water and snacks. The only rattlesnake I've ever found while hiking was found on this trail, along with many more rattlers I could hear in the brush, particularly on the Southside. The Northside is more open. This magpie kept one eye on me while its other eye was on the lookout for its lunch.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fcsuper/p/BYrhAUjnZyA/

If you want, you can hike to the top of the top at Lichen Peak. Why is it named Lichen Peak?  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fcsuper/p/BVDUytxl5Xt/

When buying a used DVD is cheaper than a movie's digital rental

...when buying a good quality DVD is cheaper than renting the movie digitally...

(Also, it's funny that the AI gave Bryan Cranston the arms of Kevin Hart)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fcsuper/p/DPNYiCsjPjR/

Trail 31 - Betasso Preserve Canyon Loop

I've visited the Betasso Preserve Canyon Loop Trail a few times during late Spring and early Summer. I really like this trail. It has a variety of terrain with beautiful mountain scenery. The trail is shared by hikers, joggers and cyclists. The area is a good mix of brush and trees without heavily overgrown areas with wild bramble. Early Summer supports a wide variety of flowers.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fcsuper/p/BkfoWuCnh0P/, https://www.instagram.com/fcsuper/p/BkYDv45HZAe/

You can also visit nearby Bummers Rock during the same drive. This trail is Hike #31 from 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder. Within which, it's described at "a geological enthusiast's wonderland." Even though it has diverse terrain, the change in elevation is only about 400 feet. You'll have a chance to see some wildlife here as well. It's recommended to enjoy this trail on the weekday, as weekends can be crowded (at least in the parking lot).

Ireland's First Script Ogham (with Converter tool)

The Ogham Alphabet

The Ogham alphabet (often pronounced "OH-um") is the earliest known form of writing used in Ireland and parts of Britain, appearing primarily in inscriptions between the 4th and 9th centuries AD. It's unique among world writing systems for its striking visual form and method of inscription.

Historical Context and Use

Ogham emerged during the period of Primitive Irish, the oldest attested form of the Gaelic language.

1. Form and Structure: Unlike the Latin or Runic alphabets, Ogham consists entirely of a system of notches and parallel strokes etched along a central line, or "stemline." On monuments, the natural corner or edge of a standing stone served as this stemline, making Ogham essentially a three-dimensional script. It reads vertically, typically from bottom to top.
2. Primary Function: The vast majority of surviving Ogham inscriptions are found on monumental stones (known as Ogham stones) scattered across Ireland and Wales. These stones functioned primarily as commemorative boundary markers or memorials, usually bearing the name of an individual and that person's lineage.
3. The "Tree Alphabet" Tradition: Ogham is incorrectly known as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet." This association comes from medieval manuscript tradition, where each of the 20 original Ogham characters was given a name corresponding to a native Irish tree or plant (e.g., ᚁ Beith = Birch, ᚇ Dair = Oak). This tradition popularized the script but often overshadowed its true linguistic purpose.
4. Decline: Ogham usage declined dramatically after the 7th century, largely being replaced by the Latin alphabet as Christianity spread and written language shifted from monumental inscriptions to manuscripts.

Transliteration for Modern English

The original Ogham alphabet had only 20 core characters (feda), which reflected the limited sound set of Primitive Irish. To adapt this ancient script for Modern English (which has 26 letters and many more sounds), a systematic approach is necessary.

This converter (below) uses a modern, mostly reversible transliteration method that maps the six missing English letters (J, K, P, V, W, X, Y, Z) to their closest existing Ogham phonetic or orthographic neighbors, ensuring every modern English word can be accurately rendered in Ogham. We also use the dedicated   (Ogham space mark) for all word separation and punctuation to maintain the authenticity of the script's digital representation.

 

Ogham Bi-Directional Converter

Direction: Latin (English) → Ogham Ogham → Latin (English)

Include Feather Marks (᚛ and ᚜) ⓘ

Enter Latin (English) Text:

Output (Click to Copy):

Note on Mapping: This converter uses the 20 core Ogham letters plus the later Forfeda for missing English sounds (P and CH). Punctuation is converted to the Ogham space mark ( ) for a more authentic output.

Latin Input	Ogham Output	Ogham Name	Mapping Rationale
A	ᚐ	Ailm	Direct Ogham vowel.
E	ᚓ	Edad	Direct Ogham vowel.
I	ᚔ	Idad	Direct Ogham vowel.
O	ᚑ	Onn	Direct Ogham vowel.
U	ᚒ	Ur	Direct Ogham vowel.
B	ᚁ	Beith	Direct Ogham character.
C, K, J	ᚉ	Coll	K shares the hard C (/k/) sound. J mapped as functional default.
CH	ᚙ	Eamhancholl	Forfeda digraph for the CH sound.
D	ᚇ	Dair	Direct Ogham character.
F, V	ᚃ	Fern	V is the voiced pair of F.
G	ᚌ	Gort	Direct Ogham character.
H	ᚆ	Uath	Direct Ogham character.
L	ᚂ	Luis	Direct Ogham character.
M	ᚋ	Muin	Direct Ogham character.
N	ᚅ	Nuin	Direct Ogham character.
NG	ᚍ	Ngéadal	Forfeda digraph for NG, used only at the start of a word (as in original Ogham tradition). Mid- and end-of-word NG renders as N + G.
OI	ᚕ	Éabhadh	Forfeda character for the OI diphthong, as in "oil", "coin", "voice".
OO	ᚖ	Ór	Forfeda character for the OO sound, as in "moon", "booze", "ooze".
P	ᚚ	Peith	Forfeda supplementary letter for the P sound.
Q	ᚊ	Quert	Direct Ogham character.
R	ᚏ	Ruis	Direct Ogham character.
S, Z	ᚄ	Saille	Z is the voiced pair of S.
STR	ᚎ	Straif	Forfeda trigraph for the STR consonant cluster, as in "street", "restrict".
T	ᚈ	Tinne	Direct Ogham character.
W	ᚒ	Ur	Mapped to U as closest vowel equivalent.
WH	ᚗ	Uilleann	Forfeda digraph for the WH sound, as in "where", "wheel", "overwhelm".
X	ᚉᚄ	Coll + Saille	Mapped as the two-character phonetic sequence CS (/ks/).
Y	ᛁ	Idad (Runic)	Mapped to a distinct rune from I to preserve the Y/I distinction on reverse translation.

For information on other tools and topics:

• Futhorc Runic Bi-Directional Converter: Turn your message in to First Millennium runes and back! [Try out this rune conversion tool on your own messages.]

• Earth's Looming Expiration Date: Why Earth faces an early deadline as Sun's energy output increases. [Idea on how to preserve our planet] 

• Number Rounding Tool: This the rounding tool that you didn't know you need! Multiple methods of rounding are supported. [Type Your Number and Round it up or down!]

Trail 34-ish at El Dorado State Park

On the Fall Solstice or near-abouts in 2025, I visited Eldorado State Park.  This park has a trail that is listed in the 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder at #34. Like many Spanish-origin names in Colorado, the name "Eldorado" has an anglicized spelling, so it's not "El Dorado". Instead of hiking the Eldorado Canyon Trail, as suggested in the book, I hiked the loop called Rattlesnake Gulch Trail.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DO35DGRDseH/

The trail is challenging, as there is significant uphill segments with several large cutbacks. I was able to visit on a day that was comfortably warm. Major portions of the hike are shaded. There are two uncommon points of interest on this trail too.

Crags Hotel Ruins is a location where a hotel once stood but long since burned down. The ruins of central fireplace still remain, along with a few other fleeting signs of some long-past structures.

Also on this loop, you'll find the Continental Divide Overlook.  This a great location for some awesome Rocky Mountain views (presumably including the Continental Divide).

I really enjoyed Eldorado Canyon State Park. This will be a location to which I'd love to return. Parking is $10 and is paid upon arrival. Reservations are required for weekends between May 1 and October 1.