The start of Rt 66 in Golden Shores AZ
Rt 66 heading towards Oatman
flowering Cactus
The burrows of Oatman
The climb to Sitgreaves Pass
The top at Sitgreaves Pass, 3,550 elevToday we said goodbye to the extreme heat of the low desert country. As we climbed up to 3,550 the air got cooler however the sun remained bright and warm. This evening in Kingman the temp was a cool 72.
After climbing out of Lake Havasu City on a 13 mile incline relief came with an nice fast downhill, followed by 9 more miles downhill on Interstate 40. Finally we turned north on the original Route 66 towards Oatman. We traveled on Rt 66 for 50+ miles today; the beauty of it is this route is now considered a "historic back country roadway" so we encountered very little traffic, until Oatman.
Oatman came into being in the early 19000's as a gold rush town. Over 18 million ounces of gold came out of the local mines. When the mining was over, the government released all of the burrows into the wild. Now these jackasses are the prime tourist attraction to this near ghost town. Main Street is a trip back in time.
Leaving Oatman for Kingman brought the toughest climb of the trip to tis point, a five mile climb with grades exceeding 12% on the upper 2 miles. After the climb up to Sitgreaves Pass, elevation 3,550 came a 9 mile descent through hairpin turns.
Next came the climb to Kingman; everything we lost in elevation on the descent we now had to reclaim pedaling up to our hotel.
Two flats today; came on the interstate leg. Not mine!
Tomorrow we climb up to 5,300 ft as we head to Seligman, AZ.
3 comments:
Scenery along the way is really attractive
Hi Mark!
Sorry I haven't commented in a couple of days. I still follow the blog daily. Busy couple of days. I will be doing my first Triathlon Sunday at WDW. Did a 25 mi bike ride yesterday followed immediately by a 5.4 mile run (actually more of a run/walk) in the hottest part of the day. I survived so feel pretty good. You are doing fantastic. The scenery is gorgeous. Who would think that desert could be so beautiful. Hope you are allowing some time to savor the ride and not just go from point A to B. The bike seems to holding up well. You will have to hang it on your wall when you retire it. Too many memories to give up. Ride on.......
Rick
Hi Dad,
Mimi and I are catching up on the past two days of your blog. Mimi says she's very impressed and interested by the trip. She's sad she won't be able to keep up with the blog back at home, so she's getting her fill now. We had a nice breakfast this morning and are hanging out with Leah until heading back to Aunt Becky's this afternoon. Good luck with all of the climbing - the road up Sitgreaves looks really steep! Hopefully your treks up Caesar's Head and Royal St helped you prepare!
Dr. Bosshardt - good luck in your first tri this weekend and let us know how it goes!
-Nat & Mimi (and Leah too!)
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