Horizon Air Conditioning
of Arizona, Inc.
5286 Lakewood Road
Bullhead City, AZ  86426
(928) 768-3761

ROC 195749

Bullhead City Area
Points of Interest

Lake Mohave

A short drive north of Laughlin, Nevada, and Bullhead City, Arizona, is a 67-mile stretch of the Colorado River called Lake Mohave. The lake is comparatively narrow, not more than 4 miles across at its widest point. It is confined for most of its length between the steep walls of Pyramid, Painted, El Dorado and Black canyons.

Lake Mohave, behind Davis Dam, is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service. Lake Mohave is a habitat for fish and wildlife; it also captures and delays the discharge of flash floods from side washes below Hoover Dam.

The area around the Lake Mohave and along the Colorado River below Davis Dam also provides a multitude of recreational opportunities, including fishing, boating, swimming, water skiing, camping, picnicking, exploring, auto touring, photography and "just plain relaxing."

There are hundreds of beaches that can only be accessed by boat. In the summer, boaters seek out their own private beach site for a base camp from which they then swim, water ski and relax. If you like to fish, Rainbow Trout are found in the cool, clear waters at the upper end of Lake Mohave, while Largemouth and Striped Bass are taken from the lower reaches of the lake. A fishing license from either Arizona or Nevada, to which a special-use stamp from the opposite state is attached, is required for those wishing to fish on Lake Mead or Lake Mohave.

Facilities for public use are located at Katherine's Landing, in Arizona near Davis Dam, and at Cottonwood Cove, east of Searchlight, Nevada. Boats and jet skis can be rented at Katherine's Landing. Public campgrounds are available at both locations where concessionaires provide trailer parks, restaurants, lodging, docking facilities, boat and fishing tackle equipment, and fishing licenses. Willow Beach, 31 miles upstream on the Arizona shore, has gas for boats and is being updated because it is in a flood zone.

Mitchell Caverns

Mitchell Caverns are limestone caves that feature a wide variety of formations. Trips through the caverns are conducted by guided tours only and last about 1 1/2 hours. Although the tour is not strenuous, there is a half-mile walk to the cave entrance from the visitor center and another half-mile walk through the caverns on uneven ground.

Tours are limited to 25 people and may cost $3.00 or more for adults and $1.00 for children 6-16 (under 6 are free). Tours on the weekends are at 10:00 AM, 1:30 PM AND 3:00 PM; weekday tours are at 1:30 PM. - September through May Cavern tours are offered seven days a week September through May. During the summer months, caverns tours are only offered on the weekends. Tour reservations are by mail and must be made 2 weeks in advance. A reservation form will be mailed to you at your request by calling (760) 928-2586. On busy weekends and holiday weeks, tours often sell out. Reservations are required for groups of ten or more.

Oatman, Arizona

There are two main roads linking Oatman to State Highway 95. One is paved and the other is a dirt road leading to Bullhead City about 25 miles away. The dirt road is in fairly good condition and is certainly a pleasurable egress from Oatman. The scenery along this route is excellent and will really make you feel like you're back in the untamed days of the old west.

You can see the old mine tailing piles and a fascinating variety of desert vegetation and rock formations. We always like to stop along the road and enjoy the sights, the smells and the silence of the open desert. Most of today's cars would have little trouble on this road when it is dry. Your cellular phone will probably work most of the way, too.

Oatman began about 90 years ago as a mining tent camp and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining center. In 1915, two miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500.

Oatman was named in honor of Olive Oatman, who was kidnapped as a young girl by Mojave Indians and later rescued in 1857 near the current site of the town. Oatman was served by a narrow gauge rail line between 1903 and 1905 that ran 17 miles to the Colorado river near Needles, California.

But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good. Oatman survived by catering to travelers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when the route became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman almost died.

Oatman is a fun place to visit -- an authentic old western town with burros roaming the streets and gunfights staged on weekends. The burros are tame and can be hand fed. When my wife and I visited in January of this year, I was surprised to see five old Model T Fords out for a Sunday drive down the main street of Oatman. The cars fit right in with the romantic image of this old town, taking us back to the 1915 era old west.

The Oatman Hotel, built in 1902, is the oldest two-story adobe structure in Mojave County and has housed many miners, movie stars, politicians and other scoundrels. The town was used as the location for several movies such as How The West Was Won, Foxfire and Edge of Eternity.

Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned at the Oatman Hotel March 18, 1939. Their honeymoon suite is still one of the major attractions that keeps the Oatman Hotel open. Gable returned here often to play poker with the local miners and enjoy the solitude of the desert.

There are plenty of shopping opportunities in Oatman. Many of the shopkeepers make their own products and obtain other rare and interesting items from far and near. There are many handmade leather goods, handmade Indian jewelry and excellent knives sold right from the wooden sidewalks running the length of the town.

During the annual Laughlin River Run, the last weekend of April, it's not unusual to see hundreds of motorcycles lining the road to and through Oatman.

Laughlin River Run

The last week of April is an exciting, and noisy, event in this area. Although most of the night time activities are held across the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV, a great many motor cycle enthusiasts can be seen along Highway 95 in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley, in Needles, CA, and in Oatman. The biggest days of the Laughlin River Run are Friday night and Saturday night in Laughlin. As many as 50,000 motorcycles converge on Casino Drive in Laughlin. There is a 10:00 p.m. curfew in effect for visitors and residents under the age of 18, and it is strictly enforced. This is for the safety of all persons, both visitors and residents.