Hiking & Camping in Oatman AZ

First day of 2026 | Driving from Amboy Crater, CA to Oatman, AZ | Hiking & Camping near Oatman | January 2026

When we awoke on the morning of January 1, the rain had passed and left behind low hanging clouds throughout the valley. We had breakfast and completed our morning chores before departing from Amboy. We took Route 66 East; it feels significant that the first road we drove this year was Route 66 considering that this year is its 100th anniversary! We would be loosely following it for the next week of our drive, but unfortunately wouldn’t be able to drive it in its entirety through California as a large stretch of it is closed East of Amboy. Because of that, we rerouted to the interstate, and took I-40 East.

Before crossing into Arizona, we exited and drove North just so we could cut into the Southernmost tip of Nevada. During our brief stop in the state, we managed to find free water at a casino. We then crossed the Colorado River into Arizona, bringing our total of states visited so far in 2026 up to 3 before noon!

After grabbing some food and gas in Fort Mohave, we drove Oatman Road up into the mountains to be reunited with Route 66. As we ascended, we entered into a sea of clouds, and soon after it started raining, which continued for the rest of the day. This definitely feels like the most rain we’ve encountered in the Southwest throughout our yearly winter migrations! Thankfully we had a safe spot picked out on gravel, where getting stuck wouldn’t be an issue. Throughout the afternoon, we enjoyed the occasional glances we got of surrounding jagged peaks (referred to as the Needles) as the clouds moved through the area. We went on a short walk looking for a letterbox and admiring the colorful Route 66 signs.

The next day, the rain had moved on, but the cool clouds remained. We had some of the Oatman locals come right up to our door to greet us — and yes, by locals I do mean the burros of Oatman! They were pretty friendly and didn’t put up too much of a fuss when we (regrettably) did not give them any food. They put on a little show for us as well, getting into little fights with each other. They were definitely the highlight of this area!

We decided to spend today in the area, only driving a couple of miles into the ghost town of Oatman to check out the town. It ended up being way busier than we imagined, and so after doing a lap around the town, we decided to retreat back to our hiding spot along 66. We did enjoy seeing more burros, and took the ‘free mine tour’ which was a little lackluster — but hey, you get what you pay for!

Back at our campsite with the views of the Needles, which were becoming better and better throughout the day as the clouds moved through, we contemplated going for a hike. Naturally, Curtis wanted to hike to a peak, while I thought that simply walking the roads through the valleys would be enjoyable. We ended up doing a little of both: we started by following dirt roads that went between the peaks, with epic views surrounding us. The scenery reminded me of the bottom of the Grand Canyon in a way, just without the Colorado River. It was also greener than we would expect. We eventually followed another road heading South, and walked up to a lookout over the highway. This was a good launching point for Curtis to scramble up one of the peaks he had his eyes on, so he set off from here while I sat and enjoyed the view.

The peak Curtis went up was probably the shortest in the valley, but that’s probably for the best. Shear walls graced all of the peaks and all of them required some level of scrambling. And sometimes the easier route is the best (and safest) route.

I will say that while I enjoyed the views from my vantage point, I did not enjoy the sounds coming from Curtis’ scramble — there were a lot of rocks tumbling down, which my imagination would run wild with and would picture him tumbling down with them. And when I heard him whistling, I knew right away that he had likely lost his phone. (Since that’s a somewhat regular occurrence, he has an app installed so if he loses it, he can whistle and the phone will start making noises. Thankfully it came in handy today and he was able to find where the phone had fallen out of his pocket and into a bush!) When he returned, we laughed about it all together, then made our return to the van. We enjoyed a lovely sunset, and after dark we lucked out with a great view of a rocket launch!

Overall, we were glad we decided to come this way, despite Oatman itself not quite being what we imagined. It reignited our longtime love of exploring Arizona, proving that we can keep coming back and discovering new places!