Resources

We’ve found a lot of interesting/indispensable info sources. here are some of them.

Pan-am Riders Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/panam-riders
-active discussion group for people doing all or part of the pan-am by bike. All member contact and location is available, as well as their websites. This is super useful.

-various websites: there are so many out there on CrazyGuyonaBike, that you should just spend time checking them out. One exceptional site that is not on crazyguy is hobobiker (2006-2009). Incredible detail, thoughtful, amazing.

For consolidated profiles of South America: panamerica.ch. very useful to know if you have a 2,000 meter climb over the next 25km…

Maps and navigation:
-Canada: For much of northern canada, you don’t really need detailed maps. There is often only one road choice, and the small communities show up even on folding road maps. However, we benefitted often from more detailed offerings.
-for the Dempster, the Dempster Travelogue is interesting with mileage and profiles, as well as points of interest. We learned a lot about geography, history, and flora and fauna from it. Recommended. free here as PDF.

For the rest of the country (particularly BC were there is more backroad potential), it’s hard to find the perfect balance of detail and portability. You can get basic provincial maps at gas stations, and they are ok if you want to stick to major highways. Because we wanted to (and did) go on some backroads in BC, we used the BC road and Recreation Atlas. It has locations of the MANY free Forest service campgrounds, but otherwise is practically useless as there are no forest service road numbers, and not quite enough details to figure it out. The city maps are at the same resolution as the rural areas, rendering them worthless. I don’t recommend it.
-Backroad Mapbooks are excellent detailed maps for backroads and campsites, but are at the sub-provincial level, necessitating multiple purchases. However, the many tourist info centers in BC usually have these map books, and can make copies for you. We did this in Vanderhoof for the Blackwater road heading south, and it worked great. The tourist info places are great stopping points, as the employees are desperately looking for ways to be useful, and there are bathrooms, water, and often times a computer with internet access. We even camped in the yard once when getting caught by darkness.

US:
We did some wandering, and if you want to do the same, I recommend the state-by-state Road and Recreation series by Benchmark. Lots of detail with (purported by a good source) less errors than the Delorme Gazetteer series. We bought versions for oregon and california and were quite happy.

Mexico: The Guia Roji por las carreteras de mexico. is the way to go if you want something for the whole country. The 23x28cm version is pretty easy to carry in a pannier and has good detail. This mapbook is much less bad than the alternatives (like ITMB, ). We successfully used it to navigate many less-traveled routes, and it is often times much more accurate on mileages than the posted roadsigns (comically inconsistent). Recommended, with issues. Gotta just feel your way a bit in Mexico…

We have been told from multiple sources that there are excellent state-level maps available at all state capitals. Often, you can get maps for many states at each capital. This is the way to get a good map for the route less traveled.

Central America
Guatemala: Rough Guide. Rugged and pretty accurate
El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua: we survived with the ITMB central america map. There are definitely errors, so be sure to always ask locals.
Costa Rica and Panama: rough guide. hmmm. detailed, but inaccurate, particularly with respect to distances. needs updating.

South America
Colombia: Mapas de Ruta from IGAC. A detailed, accurate, inexpensive, indispensable map set. Available in every major city and at many toll booths. Why can’t the rest of the latin america take note? In Cartegena: Centro Historico de la Ciudad, frente al Parque de Bolivar calle 34 Nº 3A-31, telefono: 6644169

Ecuador: ITMB Quito and Northern Ecuador. Worked well. This, in combination with the Rough Guide for Peru (below) covers all of Ecuador.

Peru:
the rough guide map is pretty accurate and indestructible. We found profiles to be more important than maps on a day to day basis. Those profiles, along with good route notes are available from previous cyclists. Hobobiker has a good starting list of resources here.