Kingman, Ariz. | Oct. 27, 2026, 11:54 a.m. ET | 3 min read

For much of the journey west on Route 66, the old highway can invite a certain open-road feeling of freedom: long horizons, open throttle, the easy hypnotism of asphalt unwinding toward the desert.

Then, in the Black Mountains of western Arizona, the road suddenly and dramatically tightens.

The speed limit drops to 20 mph. The pavement climbs and folds back on itself. Hairpin turns arrive one after another, wrapped around steep slopes with little room for distraction. Guardrails are rare and brief. Locals call this the Arizona Sidewinder.

This is the old Route 66 over Sitgreaves Pass, one of the highway’s most notorious surviving stretches. Early motorists sometimes found it frightening enough to hire local drivers to take their cars over the mountains.…