atlases and maps

I use the Delorme Gazetteers, including this one, for planning my fishing trips every year. They include comprehensive coverage of the state in question with sufficient detail to identify all the major topological features one will find, including streams and lakes. Also, they show all the roads. One criticism is that they don't contain road mileages between locations, unlike a highway atlas. But, a highway atlas will not show topographic coutour lines, or indicate locations where one may launch kayaks or rafts, or show locations reputed to have good fishing. I keep a Delorme Gazetteer for each state in which I expect to travel on any extended drive. They enable me to find campgrounds (in the indexes and shown on the maps), roads, topography, and all the essentials to plan a trip.

Good points: This atlas is the most available and easy to use topographical atlas on the market. It has helped me get into many off-highway areas with great experiences. The roadnames are particularly useful, as these are not on USGS topo maps. Road condition classification also seems to be more accurate than the outdated USGS quads. Bad points: DeLorme gives a false sense of accuracy. On the reverse side of the front cover they advise to measure distance in tenths of miles. No one should pretend to be this accurate at the scale they use. They do explain that the distance will be "slightly" more than measured. On windy roads this could be up to one more mile for every three. My biggest disappointment with the Idaho atlas came after I looked at DeLorme's atlases for Washington and Oregon. Although I have never used them for off-highway travel, it is plain to see that they are better scale, better detail, and there are more features and attractions shown. All the Idaho atlas is is an updated copy of the USGS 1:250K topo maps. Is Idaho not popular enough or what?

I made the terrible mistake of touring Idaho with an old (1994) edition of the DeLorme Idaho Atlas. Fortunately I had a whole sackful of BLM and Forest Service maps to get me out of tight situations caused by relying on DeLorme's information. The atlas shows roads that are not there, and does not show roads that are there. The land management boundaries are incorrect in many crucial instances, and sites are drastically misplaced.

I very much like the additional topographical information in the new edition, but I also noticed they did not correct any of the cartographic errors. So-- fine for casual use or for general trip planning, but contact the BLM or Forest Service before you head out on the back roads.