More Adventure Maps from Nat Geo

Late last year I wrote about a couple of very cool masp from National Geographic that covered all of Baja and offered everything you could possibly want from a map and then some. Now, they've got a couple of new offerings, with the same high quality, that cover Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge, two great adventure destinations.

These maps fall under Nat Geo's Trails Illustrated series, and offer great topographical information, plenty of trail routes, campsites, roads, and plenty of other points of interest. They also come with plenty of useful navigational information, with Lat/Long coordinates, UTM gird, and more. They also have the Tread Lightly rules for both land and water travel printed right on the map, as well as the the Leave No Trace philosophy too. And if that wasn't enough, there are also special safety notes and important phone numbers listed as well, putting all the information you could possibly need right at your fingertips.

The maps are, as you would expect, of very high quality as well. They are both waterproof and tear resistant, which means they can stand up to punishment in the field, and you can toss them in your backpack without fear of them becoming damaged, and shredded by the end of your trip. They also happen to be printed in a very high resolution, making everything easy to read, including the sometimes very tiny topographical lines.

Each of these two maps offer plenty of coverage of their respective areas too. For instance, the Mt. Hood map covers Badger Creek, Bull of the Woods, Mount Hood, and Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness Areas, as well as the newly legislated Clackamas & Roaring River Wilderness Areas, amongst plenty of others. As if that wasn't enough, it also gives information on permits required to enter the wilderness areas or to climb the mountain itself. Likewise, the Columbia River Gorge map has Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness Area, White Salmon, Pacific Crest and Oregon Trails, Mount Hood, Columbia River Gorge, Historic Columbia River Highway, and Yakima Scenic Byways and more as well. It also lists scenic water falls within the region.

As far as maps go, these are indispensable for hikers and climbers heading to these two regions to say the least. And if you're not heading to Mt. Hood or the Columbia River Gorge, then check out the other maps that National Geographic has available. There are plenty of other great destinations that they cover as well, and will have a similar level of information on those maps as well.