Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer

Rating:
Summary: May mislead the unwary
Review: The DeLorme Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer is useful if you're planning to travel off of Nevada's main highways. But there's a notable flaw that I hope DeLorme will correct in future printings. The atlas shows many spots, represented by a black diamond as a "City or Town" according to the key on the inside front cover, that are no such thing. Some of those places are deserted. Others may have a house or two but no services. You may run out of gas if you rely solely on this atlas.

Take, for example, page 62 in the current edition. The hamlet of Hiko is listed in large type; you'd think it has every convenience. But the 2000-2001 edition of the Nevada Official Highway Map, published by the state's department of transportation, shows that Hiko has no services at all. On the same page of the atlas you'll find Logan and Crescent. Neither "City or Town" appears on the official highway map, and the atlas itself shows that Crescent connects to the outside world by the tiniest road -- probably a rough dirt track. On the facing page (page 63) you'll find Uvada, in large type, just across the Utah state line. The last time I drove by Uvada, in 2001, the place consisted of a railroad siding; I didn't see a single dwelling, much less any services.

Similarly, roads that appear to be modern thoroughfares according to the key are sometimes not paved. If you're familiar with Nevada, you'll know instinctively which ones are likely to be and which are not. But if you're visiting from New York or California, again beware.

Outside of Reno, the Carson City-Lake Tahoe area, and Las Vegas, Nevada is spectacularly empty, with lonely, starlit, sometimes snowy valleys that may contain a few hundred people in an area the size of Connecticut. Public services in those places are few and far between. Most roads are unpaved. Do not rely on the DeLorme atlas for the location of urban amenities, or even a gas station. Rather, obtain the official state road map. The 2000-2001 version that I have shows which places have services and which do not. And it shows which roads are paved and which likely are not.

These comments pertain to the third edition (2000) of the atlas. I hope that it will be updated and that my observations will become obsolete.

Rating:
Summary: May mislead the unwary
Review: The DeLorme Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer is useful if you're planning to travel off of Nevada's main highways. But there's a notable flaw that I hope DeLorme will correct in future printings. The atlas shows many spots, represented by a black diamond as a "City or Town" according to the key on the inside front cover, that are no such thing. Some of those places are deserted. Others may have a house or two but no services. You may run out of gas if you rely solely on this atlas.

Take, for example, page 62 in the current edition. The hamlet of Hiko is listed in large type; you'd think it has every convenience. But the 2000-2001 edition of the Nevada Official Highway Map, published by the state's department of transportation, shows that Hiko has no services at all. On the same page of the atlas you'll find Logan and Crescent. Neither "City or Town" appears on the official highway map, and the atlas itself shows that Crescent connects to the outside world by the tiniest road -- probably a rough dirt track. On the facing page (page 63) you'll find Uvada, in large type, just across the Utah state line. The last time I drove by Uvada, in 2001, the place consisted of a railroad siding; I didn't see a single dwelling, much less any services.

Similarly, roads that appear to be modern thoroughfares according to the key are sometimes not paved. If you're familiar with Nevada, you'll know instinctively which ones are likely to be and which are not. But if you're visiting from New York or California, again beware.

Outside of Reno, the Carson City-Lake Tahoe area, and Las Vegas, Nevada is spectacularly empty, with lonely, starlit, sometimes snowy valleys that may contain a few hundred people in an area the size of Connecticut. Public services in those places are few and far between. Most roads are unpaved. Do not rely on the DeLorme atlas for the location of urban amenities, or even a gas station. Rather, obtain the official state road map. The 2000-2001 version that I have shows which places have services and which do not. And it shows which roads are paved and which likely are not.

These comments pertain to the third edition (2000) of the atlas. I hope that it will be updated and that my observations will become obsolete.

Rating:
Summary: Traveling the back roads of Nevada
Review: Travelers from outside Nevada may assume that a town name on the map means a place to buy gas. This is not always true for small towns in rural Nevada. Often a small town shown on the map will only be an abandonded cafe. Small towns that are still inhabited often have no gas. Use this map to find wonderful and seldom visited sites in Nevada, and be sure to fill up when you come to a big town, like Ely or Tonapah.