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Where to buy it:
 
Cloudcroft Ranger Station
P.O. Box 288
Cloudcroft, NM 88220
Phone: (505) 682-2551
 
Smokey Bear Ranger Station
901 Mechem Drive
Ruidoso, NM 88345
Phone: (505) 257-4095

If you plan to use the trails in the Lincoln National Forest, you need this book.
As a regular trail user in the Sacramento Ranger District (Cloudcroft area), I have been waiting anxiously and can report that this is an excellent publication. It also covers the Guadalupe and Smokey Bear districts.
The descriptions of trailhead locations are far and away the most valuable part of this book. I checked John's figures for four trailhead locations I had not been to before and found them to be within one-tenth of a mile of where he said they would be.
His maps are excellent, more than I had ever even hoped for.
He also provided difficulty ratings, and I agree with his ratings on most of the trails I have ridden my motorcycle on. When his rating is really wrong (T235, for instance), I believe it is because he traveled the trail a few years before weather really took its toll.
It is not perfect. When compared to the trail users' previous "bible," the Lincoln National Forest Travel Map, there are discrepancies. In my opinion, some of these are a mistake on the part of the personnel of the Lincoln National Forest's Recreation Division, with whom Mr. Stockert conferred to produce this book.
Thousands of these maps have been distributed since 1988. While Stockert's book is more accurate and more informative than these maps, they are still available for about three dollars and will occupy far more backpacks and glove compartments.
Some recent trail modifications could have retained the original trail numbers corresponding to this map. Instead, the Recreation Division installed signs with new trail numbers. I intend to provide some updates for our readers in coming months.
Back to Stockert's book. It is very well organized. Trails are listed at the front in numerical order. The description page corresponding to each trail can then be found from this index.
A scenic rating is included for each trail, which should help anybody unfamiliar with the area make a decision as to which trail to try next.
Each trail description includes its length in tenths of miles, upper and lower elevation numbers in feet, a difficulty rating, usage to be expected, season for usage (mostly related to elevation), name of related USGS maps if available, information regarding access, a general description of the trail itself, and a more thorough scenic rating.
In addition, many of the trail descriptions include a notes section, which contains information such as restricted usage, suggested direction of travel, history of the trail, etc.
This book could almost define "monumental effort." It should be reprinted for many years to come and will more or less be a "monument" to John Stockert's efforts.
John states that he has personally walked every trail presented in this book. Most trails are a full day's hikeand the book contains information on 125 trails. John is in a very enviable position of being retired and in sufficient physical condition for this undertaking. I believe these two characteristics were vital. I thought of doing this guide book myself a few years ago, but have never yet been in a position to do so. It took John approximately ten years to put it all together, and I for one appreciate it.