Burros Of Oatman — Local services in Fort Mohave

Absolutely adore Oatman and their infamous Burros which reside in town! If you come from the Kingman side of the mountains, you get to actually travel the historic Route 66 up into and through the mountains. It is a VERY VERY windy twisting DANGEROUS two lane road and MUST BE DRIVEN WITH CAUTION!!! Speed limit about 20mph... There are many stunningly gorgeous overlook points where you can park and take photos. About halfway thru this mountain pass road there is a set of stairs carved into the mountain leading up to a small fishbowl spring where there is fish inside to greet you! Once you get into Oatman itself, you will find a quaint and historic mining town self described as "the ghost town that never dies", with old buildings and storefronts, restaurants, museums, an area for kids and adults to sift for precious rocks, and a twice daily 'gunfight' put on for the tourists in the middle of the street. You can visit the old jail for a dollar donation, explore a mock mineshaft, learn about Oatman's history, go rockhounding around town, see the Elephant's Tooth mountain peak which overlooks the town, visit the old timey photoshop, there's an Escape Room put on in the evenings, a lovely candy shop, and of course the burros!! They are semi-friendly, but steer clear of their back ends!! Also, be cautious with kids and feeding the burros, as the burros can get a little overzealous and end up biting. Not usually maliciously, just testing the fingers to see if they are carrots, so of deal... it hurts! Just be aware! They have machines where you can get feed for the burros, or bring along some carrots to feed them if you like! They let you pet some of them, and the babies are adorable! Be warned, they walk and reside in-town! This is THEIR home! They poop and pee where they wish, they bray; Loudly! They do not always move when you are trying to drive through, but you must respect them. And kindly respect the shop owners signs asking folks to not feed the burros directly in front of their doors/shopways as it encourages the burros to pee/poop closer to store entrances making a stinky experience for everyone, especially in the...

If you want to hang out with some donkeys, Oatman is the place to be. They roam free and run the town, so just be sure to watch your step to avoid the droppings you'll inevitably encounter. If you're driving into, out of, or through the town at all, your access to the roads is entirely up to the discretion of the burros, which means that the occasional domestic donkey dispute may obstruct your path for a bit, but that's just the way it goes. It's the burros' world; we're just living in it.

As for the human aspect, the racist paraphernalia prominently displayed in some of the gift shops is off-putting, but the people themselves seem like pleasant folk. There's a bar where you can stop in for a drink, play some pool, and marvel at the massive buffalo head mounted on the wall. I somehow failed to notice it until after I'd been sitting under it for several minutes, but once I did, its eyes peered directly into the depths of my soul, probing my darkest fears and desires, and I dare not ponder what it saw there. In any case, it's a nice...

Very fun place to go just really did not like the road there fair warning if you're afraid of heights and stuff because it is a very windy curvy Road up mountains down mountains but it's very well worth going and seeing all the donkeys out there and being able to pet him and seen all the shops and talkin to the people that work at the shops they are so friendly and knowledgeable of everything but beware they do start closing up their shops at about 4:30 in the afternoon there is no place to stop and get gas on the way there really eat so you may want to make sure you have a full tank of gas and some snacks with you and they do have bags of donkey food and they are a dollar each which is very well worth it I did include some photos of the road so you can see what the road...