I don’t normally review field guides like Old Forty-Four unless I’ve actually followed the route, but I’ve wandered around the area of northwestern New Mexico covered by retired petroleum geologist Dirk Van Hart, so I have some familiarity. This excellent book shows what someone familiar with local geology and history can do. On the surface, the terrain crossed by old New Mexico Highway 44 (now US Highway 550) is not very interesting (especially if you’ve entered it from Colorado via the “Million Dollar Highway") – just a lot of sand and sagebrush – but Van Hart makes it fascinating. There’s just the right amount of geology, alternating with just the right amount of history; the history includes Spanish land grants, Anglo ranchers, trading posts operators, Mormon farmers, and the Jemez, Zia, Jicarilla and Navajo native Americans plus their ancestors at Chaco Canyon and Salmon Ruins; the geology includes the Rio Grande rift, thrust faulting in the Sierra Nacimiento, the Tierra Amarillo and Rio Salado anticlines, and the huge gas and oil fields around Bloomfield. There are plenty of interesting characters, historical tidbits, and geological oddities. The only thing I would like added is the road log stops at Bloomfield, New Mexico; I wish it had continued up through Aztec to connect with US 550 at the Colorado line (there are numerous road logs for that part of Colorado).


Excellent and abundant maps and other illustrations. Recommended even if you can’t make it to the covered territory. ( )