Retire in Alaska

Alaska Atlas and Gazetteer (Alaska Atlas & Gazetteer)

Description

The first choice of outdoors enthusiasts. Beautiful, detailed, large-format maps of every state. Perfect for home and office reference, and a must for all your vehicles. Gazetteer information may include: campgrounds, attractions, historic sites & museums, recreation areas, trails, freshwater fishing site & boat launches, canoe trips or scenic drives. Categories vary by state

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-16
Summary: "Good Investment"

A wise investment in planning a trip to Alaska. With few paved roads and millions of acres of wilderness, the Gazetter is an invaluable tool.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-11-07
Summary: "Alaska maps"

Great maps from Alaska. Very good. Small roads are described too. Highly recomanded if you want to travel in Alaska off road.

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2009-01-17
Summary: "Reformat it please"

As an independant traveler I have a Gazetteer for every state. They are worth their weight in gold. However, this one was very disappointing. Due to the formatting the major roadways and the majority of the Kenai are in the folds, bindings, or on the grid margins. This would be great if you were going to be in the remote areas, but it was worthless to use for trekking from a main highway onto side roads where most travel. Sorry DeLorme, you need to reformat the layout.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2008-12-11
Summary: "An Alaskan Perspective"

Every Alaska household that's into the outdoors has at least one copy of this book. As someone who operates a popular Alaska travel website (Alaska.org) and helps people plan custom Alaska vacations, I often recommend this book to visitors taking a driving tour.

For $20, you get basically the entire set of USGS topographic maps for the state of Alaska, most at the 1:300,000 scale (1 inch = 4.8 miles). When the book first came out in the 1990's, it broke my heart, because I had just purchased the equivalent Alaska map set from the USGS, each on individual sheets, for $500!

I keep one in my car while driving Alaska's highways, so wherever I go, I'll know the names of the mountains, rivers, and main features. The maps are also detailed enough to use as a reference if you want to take a day hike or backpacking trip.

However, if you plan any kind of multi-day adventure into a specific area, you'll want to instead get at least the USGS quadrangle for that area (available at the Anchorage USGS office at Alaska Pacific University). At a 1:250,000 (1 inch = 3.9 miles) scale, the quads are somewhat more detailed and easy to fold up and carry. If you're not an Alaska backcountry expert, you might also consider picking up the even more detailed 1:25,000 scale (1 inch = .4 mile) maps for your intended route. Each map is $4.00-$6.00.

So, the value of this book is basically being able to research any part of Alaska. For example, if you're calling an air taxi to discuss pickup or dropoff locations, you can just flip to the right page in the Atlas and know what they're referring to. If you're planning a float or backpacking trip, the Atlas can help you gauge the difficulty of the terrain and estimated travel time. If you're planning a road trip, the Atlas is great for planning out where you'll see the most rugged topography and where streams and creeks cross the road (for water or car camping).

If you're planning an extended road trip in Alaska or the Yukon, you'll also want to get the Milepost. Unlike the Atlas, the Milepost does not contain detailed topographic maps but instead mostly text listings of what to see and do at each milepoint. If you're mainly traveling between Seward, Denali, and Fairbanks (the central part of Alaska known as "the Railbelt"), avoid the expense of the Milepost and instead pick up the free, 120-page Alaska Activities Guide available at hotels and car rental locations throughout Anchorage. It contains a couple dozen maps and excellent commentary. You can download some of those maps at Alaska.org/maps, as well as a fairly good State of Alaska Map.

The Atlas is easy to use. There's a large index map on the first page and a nice two-page foldout map of the entire state as well. It also contains some nice reference tables of freshwater and saltwater fishing locations, boat ramps, mountain ranges, wildlife refuges, and other information--though none of these tables are detailed enough to be a standalone trip planning resource.

My main criticism of the Atlas is that huge sections of northern (north of Livengood) and western Alaska (west of McGrath) are at the unfortunate 1:1,400,000 scale (1 inch = 22 miles). I understand that few people visit these regions, but they are at a scale so general as to be almost useless, and the labeling is sparse. If you're planning a trip to the Brooks Range, the rivers of Western Alaska, the Haul Road, or other more remote parts of the state, these 1:1,400,000 maps don't help much.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2008-08-15
Summary: "Excellent office Atlas for those doing buisness in Alaska"

If you need to locate a remote village or river anywhere in Alaska this will do it. Great detail, clear and well organized to find places quickly. To big for travel but great for the office.