Cool Springs: When traveling from Kingman to Oatman, Ariz., the first popular stop is Cool Springs. A former gas station is now a Historic Route 66 gift shop and photo opportunity for travelers. The eclectic collection of old transportation items and vehicles around the old rock structure make for an interesting time to explore the area. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Black Mountains: The road to Oatman takes travelers through the Black Mountains in western Arizona. These desert mountains offer beautiful scenery around every bend in the road. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
With 191 turns over an eight mile stretch of Historic Route 66, the drive from Kingman, Ariz. to Oatman, Ariz. is bound to be a thrill or a spill. It’s 23 miles total between the two towns, portions are unremarkable, straight travels across the ribbon of highway that crosses the desert floor and some portions are designed for adventure as you travel over the Black Mountains.
It is hard to believe that in the early days of Route 66, this section of road was part of a celebrated interstate highway that stretched from Chicago, Ill. to Los Angeles, Calif. Vehicles were as primitive as the roads they traveled on but this narrow, winding section of old 66 traversed through the mountains in western Arizona before crossing the Colorado River into California must have been hair-raising to travelers in that era.
While the road surface has been updated and paved, this section of Historic Route 66 is not much wider than 16 feet with twists and turns that can reveal beautiful vistas but also be very dangerous if the driver is not careful. The curvy portion lies between a former gas station in Cool Springs, Ariz. across Sitgreaves Pass into Oatman, Ariz. and today is referred to as the Arizona Sidewinder.
Once you reach the village of Oatman, your eyes are filled with congested traffic of four-wheelers who have been exploring the desert landscape, motorcycles who love to ride this highway, tourists traveling in cars and pickups and even a few smaller RVs. In addition to the vehicle traffic, burros roam the streets of Oatman causing additional traffic woes as they amble down the dusty roads.
Oatman, Ariz. was founded in the early 1900s when gold was discovered in the surrounding mountains. The mining efforts were very successful for a few years, peaking around 1930 but the boom was all over by the mid-1930s. The burros in the area were used for multiple tasks during the mining era and the wild burros you see in Oatman today are descendants of those burros.
While Oatman is not a vacation destination, it is a very well-known stop for travelers on Historic Route 66 as well as a popular day trip for those visiting this part of western Arizona and around Bullhead City, Ariz. or Laughlin, Nev. This unique, quirky small village is a step into the past and a fun stop for anyone willing to exit Interstate 40 and take a ride on the wild side of the route.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Arizona Sidewinder: An eight mile stretch of Historic Route 66 between Kingman and Oatman with 191 turns is known as the Arizona Sidewinder. While this road may be a white knuckle drive for some, it does offer beautiful vistas and desert landscape for travelers. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Oatman, Arizona: When entering Oatman, one encounters the chaos that is Oatman. Vehicle traffic, foot traffic, burro traffic all under a web of electrical wires and a myriad of signage filling the frame of this photo. The activity can be very chaotic on weekends and holidays but was fairly calm during the week we visited earlier this month. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Oatman Hotel: The Oatman Hotel was built in 1902. While the place has had various owners and names, the name of Oatman Hotel has remained intact since the 1960s. The building is considered to be haunted by some but we do know that the restaurant and bar area that has walls and ceilings lined with dollar bills was a welcome meal during a warm spring visit. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Downtown: The variety of small shops, eateries, and activities in Oatman is endless. The eclectic village has made the most of being an old mining camp that happened to be on old Route 66 in the early days. While the boom days are long gone, the area has become a tourist destination for travelers in the 2020s. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
