5 comments about Benchmark New Mexico Road & Recreation Atlas.

1. I used this map for a weeklong trip around north-central New Mexico, and it was very useful. The layout of the maps is different than any atlas I've used - big improvement there. My main criticism is that, as a "recreation atlas," it should show you more detail around key recreation areas (e.g., Pecos Wilderness). I thought it would be more similar to a Delorme atlas with detailed hiking landmarks (water towers, powerlines, etc.). It'll get you to the entrance and give you some main forest roads, but I would've prefered some more details and close-up relief maps.
   
   Overall, it was a good atlas for highway and biway driving, but not the outdoors guide I was looking for.



2. It started for me with the purchase of Benchmark's Washington State road & recreation atlas at Costco. Now I'm the owner of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and California, which I bought from Amazon at approximately the same price offered by Costco, but Costco outlets only offer the state they're in or immediately surrounding. Lets face it, I'm a map junkie, a roadtrip-a-holic who is always on the lookout for the back road to anywhere. That being said, I try to stay on pavement, at least 98% of the time and am a little color (ok, a lot) blind so most maps with the color coded roads don't help much. The Benchmark maps use dashes and superior detail to make road conditions and names obvious - even for me. If you like to keep to the interstate, you have no need for these, but if you're like me and anxious to explore the outback, buy Benchmark maps.



3. I like this map, but it could be much easier to use. It doesn't have any sort of easy-to-use system, aside from a basic index, and so any goodness it contains often goes wasted.
   It does have a lot of features of southern New Mexico that other maps don't, and a lot of dirt roads that others don't, but it's not necessarily complete.
   I'd recommend the New Mexico DeLorme map over this one, but used together the two can be very helpful. (Unless you're lost in the maze of cattle roads off of County Highway 52A, off of North 14 between Madrid and Golden. In that case, both maps will fail you, you will make the mistake of using a windmill for a landmark--there are dozens--and you will drive around until you run out of gas. You'll have fun though.)



4. I bought this Benchmark atlas and the DeLorme New Mexico atlas both back in 2004. So I do not know the current editions of either book, but can say that of the 2004 versions of these, the DeLorme is greatly superior. It simply shows far more information on the maps. The split design of this atlas also baffles me; I find myself only using the "public lands" section and totally ignoring the "landscape" section. The latter does give a better at-a-glance impression of elevations, but I really need to know where the public lands are and otherwise information is duplicated between the two. I'd much rather have more detail in a single map than two coarser-scaled, mostly redundant maps. Nonetheless, for what it does show I cannot fault this map. I just wish it showed more.
   
   If the DeLorme atlas weren't around this would be a must-have; but I have the DeLorme atlas and so this mostly gathers dust.



5. Great contour atlas, easy to find objects of interest. The maps are too redundant and the scale is disappointing (I expected at least twice better).

1 comments about Fishing in New Mexico (Coyote Books).

1. New Mexico has more opportunities than one would imagine for fishing a desert state. However, one typically needs a little help finding the water. Piper's book covers nearly every possible fishing lake, stream, and river in New Mexico with valuable tips on when and how to fish each body of water. Well-organized into the major river drainages, Piper also provides basic maps for each area. The writing is clear and helpful. The only drawback is that the book is now slightly old and some of the details are out of date (access points have closed, new lakes have appeared, etc.). Perhaps a new edition is in the works. The maps could also be a little better, presently they are somewhat cartoonish. Overall, however, this is the best guide to fishing New Mexico.

2 comments about When in Mexico, Do as the Mexicans Do.

1. Although not a very big book, I found the information in 'When in Mexico' very accurate and very helpful. It was good to get some inside 'tips' that could save some embarrasment or hurt feelings when traveling in that great country, such as what time to arrive at someone's house for dinner, when it's not ok to haggle over prices, etc. The format of the book was kind of interesting, but it was still an easy read.



2. This book is real helpful if you're planning a trip to Mexico. I don't mean Cancun or Veracruz, real Mexico, off the coast. Or if you live or work with Hispanics in your hometown, it's also beneficial to know more about their culture. And hey, it never hurts to learn more about someone else.

No comments about Adventures into Mexico: American Tourism beyond the Border (Jaguar Books on Latin America).

No comments about Timber, Tourists, and Temples: Conservation And Development In The Maya Forest Of Belize Guatemala And Mexico.

No comments about ""Carreteras Nacionales"" Mexico Road Map by Ediciones Independencia (Edicion 2008).

5 comments about Rand McNally 2007 The Road Atlas: US, Canada, Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico).

1. This isn't your father's road atlas! This one has RADICAL streets, AWESOME rivers, and COOOOL lakes represented in TOTALLY TUBULAR drop-down 2-D! I should warn you that you may LITERALLY BURST INTO FLAMES when you note the 6 - 6!!!! - main thoroughfares out of Gettysburg, PA. That is but one moment of potential spontaneous human combustion in the Northeast. Do not look at panel A-4 on the Vermont map, WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!
   
   The perfect size to place in your rucksack in your cross-country trek, the Rand McNally Road Atlas will give you much "G Love". By which I mean that you will be grody to the max and will blind multiple people with science. Science. The sweet science of geography.



2. You won't need to worry about getting lost with this in your car!! Wonderful detail. We went from NH to Florida and back without any problems!



3. Best map of USA I have ever seen. Very up-to-date. Tons of information. This map is a must have for USA trips...



4. This is a road atlas that has everything I was looking for. I'm glad I bought it and know I will use it for years to come.



5. great for the price and wow very fast shipping very easy to use. If you travel alot get this atlas.

1 comments about Rand McNally Albuquerque New Mexico Local Street Detail.

1. A couple of years ago, I got involved in creating the (currently stalled) Albuquerque Urban Trail--a proposed long-distance hiking trail that would run from the volcanoes on Albuquerque's west side to Sandia Peak on its east, zigzagging for over 200 miles into its every district along the way--and this was the map used to plot it out.
   This map was perfect for the job, too, because of its detail and its completeness. It's a good map, and because of my work with that trail I've bought nearly a dozen copies of it.
   I'll just say this: if you need a map of Albuquerque, then get this one. I can almost guarantee it will be more than sufficient for your needs. All the streets are here, the arroyos, the parks, the geographical features, and it's well-indexed and laid out.
   It's good. You'll like it.

1 comments about Hidden Puerto Vallarta: Including the Bahia de Banderas and Sierra Madre Mountains (Hidden Travel).

1. Overall the guide is only marginally usefull. It does contain a few usefull tips about what one might do off the beaten path.
   There is something troubling about the book though. There a number of mistakes in the book that could only be made by someone pretending to have done things like riding city buses or searching out local fare without actually having done those things.
   At one point the author suggests you can catch a city bus from the airport but need exact change. You can indeed catch a municipal bus from the airport, but you don't need exact change. The drivers all make change within reason as they do everywhere in Mexico.
   In the dining section the author mentions that it's hard to find mexican food in Vallarta. This claim is absurd. There small mexican restaurants all over Vallarta. Vallarta is after all a destination for mexican vacationers too, and there is a solid demand for decent mexican food, especially Jalisciense food (e.g. birria), a demand met by hundreds of small to medium size restuarants all over town. There are even a couple of large fondas serving basic mexican food to hundreds every evening.
   Another error in the book makes me think the author doesn't even spend much time in Mexico at all. He mentions the Cinco de Mayo holiday and says that it celebrates the battle of Puebla, which it does, but he says that the battle ended french occupation, which it didn't. The Battle of Puebla was a victory against the french, but at the beginning of the intervention. The intervention followed, with Maximillian installed as emperor etc. The battle is celebrated as a holiday becuase immediately after the battle Juarez declared it a holiday and no one has dared to remove it, even though the battle itself was ultimately of little historical consequence.
   Overall the book gives the impression of a not so astute armchair traveller who really doesn't have that much to offer in terms of how to enjoy Vallarta in a less touristy sort of way. More troubling than the errors that pepper the book is the sense that one gets that the author is trying to pass himself off as something he is not: an expert in travelling off the beaten path in Mexico.

2 comments about Benchmark Washington Road & Recreation Atlas (Benchmark Map: New Mexico Road & Recreation Atlas).

1. I moved to Washington recently and needed to get some good paper maps of the area. Though I have all the USGS maps of the pacific NW, I find the "landscape" style mapping of these types of maps extremely useful and more up-to-date than many USGS quads. I debated between the well-known Delorme and Benchmark. Benchmark won with better detail, easier to read maps, better recreation details, and the fact they're a Pacific NW company.
   
   This map book has large-format maps for the entire state, US map, a full state map, and a pacific NW map. Map details are complete including roads, "off" roads, trails, mountain elevations, place names, political lines, and others. It also has great sections for recreation (camping, hiking, fishing, local attractions, and others), climate data, and other nice details about the areas. Navigation with GPS is made easy by 7'30" latitude and longitude sections.
   
   I do wish the scale was a little smaller - finding trails and off-the-beaten-path roads can be difficult in particularly busy areas. I also desired more accurate elevation details - the scale seems to clump 8,000' and 14,000' peaks together. Overall, these are excellent maps and should help any outdoor lover find their way.



2. This map is great for helping you locate those out of the way gravel roads that are not included on most maps. This is not a good map for city driving. My main dissapointment is that it does not include all of those little lakes in Washington such as all of the seep lakes near Potholes Reservior.