This post is a part of GearJunkie’s Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2013 coverage, which features new products to be seen on the trade show floor.
In an age of touchscreens and voice-activated GPS, a good old paper map is still my favorite guide on the road.
This year, National Geographic Maps released the first in a line of atlases geared toward campers, hikers, and outdoor wanderers of any ilk.
The company’s State Recreation Atlases are stapled 11 X 17-inch booklets. They are described as “part road atlas, part trail guide, part trip planner.”
Sold state by state, the atlases blend topographic base maps with inlayed hiking trails as well as roads and highways. You use them to drive, hike, camp, and generally explore a state.
So far, only a few states have been released for what will eventually be a nationwide series. I checked out the Minnesota edition this month on a road trip through the state and along Lake Superior.
My family and I drove north on Interstate Highway 35, from Minneapolis to Duluth. We snaked through the port city, making a right turn onto State Highway 61 to head north toward deep winter woods and ski trails beyond.
I checked the National Geographic Atlas once we reached Castle Danger, a blip of a community overlooking Lake Superior. The map revealed a trailhead for an afternoon hike, and soon I was trekking down a path and through the snow.
Later, we drove to a state park. I grabbed a park map at the entrance gate — the detail needed for a family hike was not available with National Geographic’s scale.
