atlases and maps

The Maine Atlas & Gazetteer by DeLorme should also be known as "The Maine Bible." Every Mainer should own one. All too often I've tried those web sites that are supposed to give you driving directions, and inevitably they give me an error message saying "that location was not found" when I try to get directions to places in rural Maine. You'll never have to worry about that with the Gazetteer. Every Maine city, town, village or plantation is listed in this book, no matter how obscure it is.

This goes for any of the gazetters. These books are indispensable. I have them for many states and refer to them constantly when traveling. I photograph lighthouses and landscapes. They have the lighthouses marked and many tiny roads. I've used the one in Northern California to navigate through the deep forests on logging roads to get to the ocean and never have had an error. If I find myself in error it has always been my mistake in reading the map not the map. They are the perfect detail for the size package. I also use the Topo 4.0 Wow! I don't carry a laptop in the field though.

If you are visiting Maine and want to explore, this is the only reference possible. It is updated every year to show washed out roads, backwoods detours and detail that is essential to getting in and out of the Northern Wilderness.