Parker Rotary's Buckskin Mountain Desert Dash returns to Desert Bar

Parker Rotary Club staged the 35th Annual Buckskin Mountain Desert Dash beginning on Cienega Springs Road and finishing at the World Famous Desert Bar (Nellie E. Saloon) with a 9 a.m. start on Feb. 14, 2026. The club listed a 5K mountain bike, 5K run and 5K fitness walk on its event page and set early registration at $25 through Feb. 1, 2026, rising to $30 after that date and on race day; children 12 and under were charged $15. Parker Rotary’s online notice directed registrants to pay via ZELLE and to contact Joanna Hermes at joannahermes@gmail.com for online registration questions.

Organizers warned the course runs through the Buckskin Mountains on a graded road and urged participants to set expectations accordingly. The Clubrunner flyer language used in past years captures that advisory: "PLEASE BE ADVISED the course runs through the Buckskin Mountains. The course is a graded road. This course lends itself not to a race but to a test of determination and adaptability." For the Feb. 14, 2026 event the club set a traffic closure window from 8:45 to 11:00 a.m., instructing that vehicles must be off the course by the 8:45 closure and warning that transportation would not be provided from the Nellie E. Saloon finish line back to the parking area.

Logistics for participants mirrored long-standing practices: registration and check-in were located on Cienega Springs Road (previous notices placed the registration area about two miles in), and Parker Rotary encouraged online sign-up to "Save Time & Postage." The club also offered t-shirt pickup and, on request, mailing of shirts by emailing mjb901@yahoo.com; the same mjb901 address served as the contact for additional information and day-of checking in per prior flyers.

The Desert Dash has a multi-year track record in La Paz County. Clubrunner flyers show the 27th annual event on Feb. 17, 2018 with a 5-mile mountain-bike option and a 10:00 a.m. start; River City Newspapers/Havasunews coverage of a later edition described the 31st annual event as drawing 363 registrants, ideal weather, a finish-line hosted by Ken Coughlin of the Desert Bar, and prize drawings that used bib numbers with a 50-inch smart TV reported as the grand prize. Event organizer Michael Burke has also provided on-the-ground color in past coverage, noting that "they didn’t have a banner over the starting line because a road grader inadvertently buried the hole they used to mount the poles for the banner."

Parker Rotary’s published cancellation policy reserves the right to call off the race for severe weather and to reschedule to Sunday when feasible, with updates posted to the club’s website and Facebook page. For immediate inquiries about future editions, registration status or prize information, organizers list Mike (Michael) Burke at mjb901@yahoo.com and Joanna Hermes at joannahermes@gmail.com; historical registration contact numbers include (928) 669-8954 for morning registration information as shown on earlier flyers.