Road Trip Studios: Family-Friendly Adventures on Route 66 and Beyond in the Great Southwest

The Oatman Highway, Route 66, makes its lonesome trek from Kingman through the Mojave Desert. A gray ribbon shooting up through dusty sky toward the Black Mountains and low sun. Eroded hills and ramshackle structures whiz by as you roll along this narrow and rugged layer of asphalt. Rough edges meeting packed dirt with little margin between road and wilderness. This is a stark land where mineral laden hills gave way to rugged settlement amid sculpted erosion. Absent are the saguaros, prickly pear and greenery of the Sonora. The stretch is lonely, desolate and real. And you kind of love it.  As wind battered Black Mountains roll into sight, Cool Springs Station and Cabins comes into view. You pull up, stretch your legs and survey the surroundings.  Under a wind beaten tarp sit weathered gentleman taking in the incessant wind drafting down from the Black Mountains. The wildly flapping flags point to that ever winding and notorious route up Gold Hill Gr

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