New Mexico Atlas & Gazetteer

If you spend a lot of time in the back country these maps are the best alternative, from my point of view. It's true the maps don't have labels on the back country cow trails another reviewer complained of. The fact is, neither do the roads. But it's often helpful when you come to the fork in a dirt two-track and they both wander off a few degrees off North, to be able to crack open the Delorme and discover the one on the left plays out just over that hill over there at a windmill. There's no excuse for needing labels these days. A compass and Delorme will allow you to locate yourself in most instances.

However, even the back woods purist ought to own a GPS. I've been wandering around the back woods longer than most readers of this have been alive. I rarely get lost, but I frequently don't know exactly where I am. Occasionally my old TrailBlazer saved me a lot of walking to get back to the truck. Once it saved my life in a snowstorm, I imagine.

For motor traveling you'll cover too much ground to allow the 7.5 minute maps to help much. You pass from one map to the next too quickly. When you are afoot a couple of them become useful. Meanwhile, I use Delorme as one of the ways to keep track of my wanderings. I recommend them wherever you are. And a GPS, as well.


REVISED EDITION IS EVEN BETTER   January 25, 2004
DRYWASHER-BILL (LAS VEGAS, NEVADA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

Jack Purcell is pretty thorough in his review. As for the nitpickers, if they really want to get names and numbers of backroads, they can contact the forest service and BLM, as well as the park service, who publishes maps of logging roads, and other limited use roadways. At 1:250,000, who could expect a name or number tag anyway of off-the-beaten trail access roads anyway?
What's nice about the new edition is De Lorme has added graphics to note relief, rather than topo lines found on previous editions (Perhaps due to competition from Benchmark Maps). I like the DeLorme Maps because they tend to be more detailed using a smaller resolution overall than other book maps (1:150,000 up to 1:250,000), and if one needs the detail offered in a 7.5 minute map, they have only to visit TopoZone.com to get really close, after locating the general area conditions on a DeLorme Map.
A great overall set to obtain, at the very least, get your state and every state that surrounds your own, and exploit it for true getaways and area studies!


My favorite New Mexico map   October 6, 2005
Mike Smith (Albuquerque, NM)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This map is fairly detailed, and well organized. Its back cover divides the state into squares, and each square equals a page. See the number on the square, and turn to that page. It's that easy. (It also has a decent index.)
There are a lot of maps of New Mexico, and anyone really obsessed with exploring its backroads should get copies of the USGS five-minute maps for the areas they're particularly interested in. But, for a good, general, usually adequate map of the entire state, this is by far the best map to buy. It's got many dirt roads, ranch roads, and little known landmarks. I've spent years of driving and exploring with my brother and my friends, stopping frequently to crack this map open and find out where on earth we were.
Occasionally, if something wasn't in this map, it was in the Benchmark "New Mexico Road and Recreation Atlas," but of the two this one's always been the more helpful. You should get a copy, and then, you should get out.
There's a lot to see.


Excellent Road Map   August 30, 2006
Janice B. Jessup (Virginia Beach, Virginia United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Not only is it an easy to follow road map but it includes points of interest with descriptions... A 'must have' for a tourist in a new territory to be discovered!


Review of New Mexico Atlas   May 9, 2007
Leroy A. Franklin
Has great detail of all of New Mexico. My wife and I will be taking a vacation there soon and this will help us a lot.