Those who ride a Harley or any type of cruiser bike know that every year one of the largest gatherings of bikers on the West Coast is in Laughlin, NV. Located right on the border between Arizona, Nevada, and California, Laughlin is known for its beautiful riverfront views and summertime fun. Whether you’re a gambler or not, the Laughlin River run is a sure-fire winning bet for a good time.
We have been trying to plan a trip to Bullhead City, which lies just east on the Arizona side of the river from Laughlin. With the temperatures beginning to heat up, we knew that if we wanted to get a good ride out in Bullhead we were going to have to do it fast. We planned out a ride from our Managing Editor Mike Lasher’s house in Bullhead out to the old mining town of Oatman. After looking over our schedules, we all agreed on a weekend to go out to ride – but it wasn’t until the week before our trip that we realized it was the same weekend as this year’s Laughlin River Run.
Mike, Wally from Side X Side Outfitterz, and I all left on Thursday night and made the four-hour drive out to Bullhead from Riverside, CA. We arrived in Bullhead at Mike’s vacation home and were greeted by Mike’s grandmother and grandfather who live right next door. We didn’t arrive in Bullhead until 9:00 P.M. and, as soon as we were done unloading, Mike’s loving grandma offered us her famous Pizza Casserole and Margaritas for dinner. I’m never one to pass up a blended Margarita and we were all pretty hungry around this time, so we headed next door for some of Grandma’s Cookin’. After dinner, we all headed back to the house and then to bed to get some shuteye for the next day’s ride. I’m not sure how I got talked into sleeping in Mike’s sister’s pink and brown themed bedroom, but I must admit that they were the most comfortable pink blankets I’ve ever slept under.
We woke up around 7:00 A.M. on Friday and were greeted by a beautiful, sunny 65-degree day. Mike’s grandma and grandpa had headed down to the Black Bear Diner, a local breakfast hotspot where they put our name in for a table. Even though the Laughlin Run is located on the other side of the river, a lot of bikers come over to Bullhead to eat since it’s not as crowded. We did some final checks on our Side X Sides and then drove them down the street to Black Bear Diner where we parked right next to a row of custom bikes. (I don’t recommend driving a non-licensed vehicle down the street in Arizona, but due to all the commotion being caused by the bikers the cops looked the other way on our misdemeanor.)
After a filling breakfast, we made our way out to the trailhead towards Oatman. Oatman is accessible both off-road and on-road. If you were to drive to Oatman on-road from Bullhead or Laughlin, you can take 95 (Mojave Valley Hwy.) to South Oatman Rd. (Boundary Cone Rd.) or coming from Kingman you would take Interstate 40 to Oatman Rd. Oatman, AZ is a city as rich in history as it is with wild burros. In the early 1900’s, Oatman was in its heyday. Along with neighboring town Goldroad, they were the largest producers of gold in the whole state of Arizona. During World War II, the gold mines were shut down as a result of governmental metal mining efforts. They were re-opened in 1995 and, at one point, yielded 40,000 oz. of gold a year. When gold prices dropped, the mines were shut down once again in 1998 and have remained closed to this day.
Not only is Oatman famous for its gold mines, but this city also sits close to one of the most famous Highways in U.S. history – Route 66. In 1952, Route 66 stretched past this old gold town, which became a famous tourist destination as an authentic ghost town. Today Oatman is still famous for its accomplishments of yesteryear and the remnants of those years of mining are still visible throughout the town. Wild burros (donkeys) walk the streets nonchalantly as if they were regular tourists and old mining carts can be seen around the town’s back alleys and inside shops. Wild West gun shows and shoot-outs are performed daily at 1:30 P.M. and the Ghost Riders are available for “Shotgun Weddings,” Tour bus “robberies,” and other various gunfight shows. Around 40 different gift, antique, and craft shops line the main street of Oatman and, if you’re in the mood for ice cream, be sure to stop by the Olive Oatman Restaurant and Ice Cream Saloon. We highly recommend it.
There are many different off-road trails that you can take from Bullhead to Oatman and many of the trails all veer off from Silver Creek Rd., the main graded dirt road that goes from 95 up to Oatman. On our way out to Oatman, we took a river wash up through a canyon that became deeper and narrower as we drove through. At one point, the walls of the canyon were barely wide enough for my Polaris Ranger XP to fit through without hitting the cage on the jagged rocks. We maneuvered our way through the maze of rocks and cliffs until we came to a dead end called The Waterfalls. Here we got out of our vehicles and climbed up through some of the large boulders that have fallen from the cliff sides over the years. During the majority of the year, these waterfalls are dry due to little rainfall in the desert. We were able to see a little bit of water coming out of the ground and trickling down some of the rocks that make up the waterfalls. This is definitely not where you would want to be when a flash flood comes ripping around the rocks and into the river bed. (If you were to be caught in a flash flood, the best thing you could do is climb up the cliff sides as high as possible and wait for the water to recede.)
After exploring the waterfalls for a bit, we made our way back through the maze and back onto the trail. About two-miles into the new trails I felt the front driver’s side tire on my Ranger pulling and looked down to see the tire quickly deflating. Luckily, I had grabbed a spare tire and wheel before heading out on the trail, so we quickly raised the Ranger up with our bottle jack and tried our best to remove the wheel studs with the supplied tool in the Ranger tool kit. Unfortunately, the tool supplied with the Ranger was useless and bent in half as soon as we applied pressure to it; fortunately, we had a crescent wrench on hand and were able to remove the wheel. In my hurry to pack, I grabbed a rear spare tire and, since there is very little back spacing clearance in the front on the Ranger, we decided to flip the wheel around and mount it backwards. This worked great for about a mile, which is when the brake caliper caught the valve stem on the wheel and ripped it out. Now with two flat tires, no spares, and the first flat tire being un-pluggable due to a rock piercing the sidewall, we were forced to turn around and head for home. I was able to stop the air from leaking out completely from the tire and we patched the valve stem with some handy duct tape, which held in air the whole way back. On an 85% flat tire, I followed behind the others on a trail back toward Mike’s house. Anyone who has ever driven with a flat front tire knows that it is quite a workout getting the vehicle to go straight – and to keep the wheel from ripping out of your hand over every little rock that hits the flat tire. We made it back to Mike’s place, at which point I would guess the tire to have been about 1,000,000 degrees from rubbing on the pavement for the last five miles before the house.
We hadn’t reached our destination but were determined to get to Oatman before the day was thru. I had figured that I would just jump in the Rhino with Mike, but Mike looked over at his clean shiny off-road Jeep sitting in the garage and told me to drive the Rhino; he was going to drive the Jeep. Knowing that we were behind schedule at this point, we decided to skip the slower trails and just take Silver Creek Rd. all the way up to Oatman. After about 30 minutes on the graded dirt road, we arrived at Oatman and heard the roar of over 300 bikes. Oatman was packed with bikers from the Laughlin Run and the streets were filled with custom bikes and tough guys in leather vests. We felt a little out of place pulling up in Side X Sides, but then noticed a couple of other Side X Sides driving down the street and parked in the dirt lots around town. We enjoyed the scenery of the town as we walked down Main Street and, after seeing a couple people enjoying large waffle cones filled with ice cream, we made our way toward the ice cream parlor, like any real man would.
We hung out, watched all the bikes as they passed down the street, and ate our ice cream until we had just about as much motorcycle exhaust fumes as we could take. Then we headed out. On the way back from Oatman, we decided to take a couple of the side trails that sprung out from Silver Creek Rd. Along the way we ran across a running creek and decided to cool down a little by splashing through the creek in our Side X Sides. There were also some rock formations around the creek bed that we were able to play around on and get some good use out of the 4Wheel Difflock. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky and we knew that we were going to have to move quickly if we wanted to get back before dark. We kept it pinned nearly the whole way and made it back just in time to load up and get all situated before the sun went down. Wally and I decided to head back home that night to enjoy the rest of our weekend. Mike stayed another night at Bullhead, where I’m sure he enjoyed some more of Grandma’s home cooking and a nice, quiet night’s sleep.
While we weren’t able to fully participate in the Laughlin River Run, we were able to do a run of our own in our Side X Sides. If you’ve never been up to Laughlin, Bullhead, or Oatman, you’re really missing out on some of the best desert landscape around. We were able to plan it just right this year with the Laughlin bike run and maximize the fun of our ride to Oatman. This area offers something for everyone, with the Colorado River for summer activities, the Laughlin hotels and casinos for some grown-up fun, and Wild West shows and gold mine tours in Oatman for the whole family. If you’re heading out to ride in the summer, make sure you pack lots of water since temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees. Whatever you decide, any time of the year is a great time to visit this beautiful desert oasis.
By Cody Fletcher
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