Benchmark California Road & Recreation Atlas (Benchmark Map: California Road & Recreation Atlas) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ Benchmark Maps (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the mountains to the ocean, from the freeways to the trails; California is rich in geographical diversity and natural beauty. The recently updated and improved second edition of the California Road & Recreation Atlas captures the full scope of the magnificent state.

From the Publisher

The new edition is distinguished by the addition of all-new maps and other refinements.

The heart of the atlas is Benchmarks exclusive Landscape Maps (tm) - a unique illustrative cartographic style that, through the use of color and shaded relief, accurately depicts the physical landscape. These maps clearly show recreation information and road classes, from freeways to jeep trails, for the entire state at a scale of five miles to an inch. The atlas now has 14 pages of all-new Metro Maps of Los Angeles, Bay Area, San Diego and Sacramento, produced in the Landscape style. The new enlarged maps show even more recreation detail than before. Other new features of the twenty-eight page Recreation Guide include climate graphs, eight-classes of public lands ownership, shaded-relief and point-to-point mileages. Campgrounds and RV Parks are now grouped by region in an easy-to-use central index. Make the Benchmark California Road & Recreation a part of your next adventure in the Golden State.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Benchmark Maps; 2nd edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929591437
• ISBN-13: 978-0929591438
• Product Dimensions: 15.5 x 11 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, easy-to-use topographic atlas, December 8, 1998

By A Customer

The folks at Benchmark have come up with a single-volume atlas of California that's easy to use, and beautiful to look at. The ergonomics are great -- the choice of text and line styles make roads and cities easy to locate, there are generous overlaps between adjacent map pages, and every 2-page spread has a scale of miles and a tiny California outline showing this page's coverage. Very clear lat & long grids aid in GPS navigation.

The most distinctive feature, though, is the topography. Color is keyed to altitude, and shading is also used to give a clear picture of the land's contours. Combined, they give a very detailed image of how the land will be shaped when you get where you're going.

For those interested in adventuring on California's back roads, the obvious comparison is with DeLorme's Southern California Atlas & Gazetteer, and its Northern California companion. I've used the DeLorme books for years, and have the following comments comparing the Benchmark atlas with them:

Pro: better ergonomics. The text fonts, road lines etc. are clearer in the Benchmark atlas. The "look and feel" makes it more of a pleasure to work with.

Pro: more discernable land contours (the new edition of the DeLorme books add some shading to help in the interpretation of the oft-confusing contour lines, which helps a lot, but it's still not as sharp as the Benchmark book. Note that I've seen this new contour shading in the Southern CA book, and haven't seen a new Northern CA book yet)

Pro: Seems to be more up-to-date (e.g. the Recreation Pages show a lot of the recent changes to the desert parks. The Benchmark book shows a new bypass through Barstow that isn't in the new DeLorme edition (confused the heck out of my group once))

Pro: All of California in one book!

Con: Not as detailed. There's a reason they can fit it all in one book: it's at twice the scale of the DeLorme's (1:300,000 instead of 1:150,000). Some small features, such as mine sites, aren't in the Benchmark book. I examined various regions I've visited, and most of the same dirt roads are in Benchmark book, but not as many of them are labeled. (In fairness, there's a corresponding "Pro", in that twice as much area is covered on a page, so there's less flipping around)

Con: Many park & base boundaries are not shown on the detailed maps. While the borders of some national parks are shown on the detailed maps, many of them only have a label in the middle, and you must turn to the less-detailed Recreation Maps section to get a sense of their borders. This can be frustrating when you're planning a drive in the region of an off-limits area like China Lake Naval Weapons Center. This shortcoming is the main reason I don't give it five stars -- I hope they correct it in future editions.

Con: No indication of land surface. The Benchmark book uses color exclusively for elevation; the forested Sierras look just like the mountains around Death Valley. DeLorme uses color to show levels of vegetation, etc. So, you can look at Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, and get a sense of which parts are forested and which are open granite.

So, which is better? I'd say it depends on what you want to do. If you mostly stick to the paved roads, and/or tend to supplement your atlas with more detailed maps (park service, forest service, USGS topos, etc.), and want something that gives a better sense of "the big picture" of what the land is doing, you might be happier with the Benchmark book. For a driving tour at highway speed, the detail of the DeLorme book is probably excessive -- you'll be flipping a lot of pages.

On the other hand, if you really want to get out on the dirt trails and find your own site in the backcountry, you'll appreciate the DeLorme's greater detail.

Personally, I like having as many different maps available as possible, so I'd say "Get Both". In particular, if you have an older edition of the DeLorme book, and are thinking about upgrading to the newer edition with contour shading, you might want to consider keeping your old one, and getting the Benchmark book instead.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Relief [Map], July 25, 2001

By	Bruce Crocker "agnostictrickster" (Whittier, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

No one map [or atlas] can serve all purposes. The Benchmark California Road And Recreation Atlas seems to fill a middle ground between the pure road atlas [the Thomas Guide California atlas is my number one pick in this category] and a topographic/backroads atlas [the DeLorme atlases are my favorites in this category]. The Benchmark atlases are good road atlases with color-coded and shaded relief added to indicate topography. Each map covers more territory than the maps in the DeLorme atlases. This means less detail than the DeLorme maps and I wouldn't want to do much backroad driving with only the Benchmark atlas available for reference. I generally bring my copy of the Benchmark atlas with me on road trips because I find it good for doing a visual and mental overview of the area I'm exploring. I think all travel enthusiasts should have a copy of this atlas in their map library and especially those who want information on topography, but are contour line phobic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Benchmark atlas is the best I've seen., December 11, 1998

By A Customer

This atlas is highly recommended. The beautiful maps are great for looking at (and daydreaming) at home or as a navigation tool on the road. I have already given two as gifts. It is simply the best atlas of California on the market.