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Cool Springs Station, Graveyard at Sitgreaves Pass and Oatman on Route 66

Looking West from Cool Springs Station as Gold Hill Grade makes it's narrow climb towards Sitgreaves Pass on the Historic Route 66 National Backcountry Byway. Beginning at Kingman, "this 42-mile stretch of two-lane blacktop is one of the last and best-preserved segments of the original Route 66, one of America's first transcontinental highways. This portion of the highway once included one of the most fearsome obstacles for "flatland" travelers in the 1930's: the hairpin curves and steep grades of Sitgreaves Pass, which characterize Old Route 66 as it makes its way over the Black Mountains of western Arizona." BLM Back Country Byway


As you enter Sitgreaves Pass, on the way to Oatman, you will pass by Memorial Hill where dozens of crosses and unique tributes are carefully placed overlooking the mountain range to the south. 

Oatman offers a unique rustic charm, rooted in the authenticity of its history as a mining town and the legend of Olive Oatman, whose face was famously tattooed was she was a captive of the Mohave Tribe for four years. The donkeys are extremely friendly and glad to greet you at your car door as you arrive.








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