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Eldorado and Ossian

Eldorado and Ossian is 51.2 miles of loop riding through Winneshiek County in Iowa — Driftless Iowa, the Upper Iowa, the Yellow River country and the climbs out of the Mississippi. Moving time is about 65 minutes; allow 95 with stops — a half day. It is scored CS-2, Easy: 60 corners, 113° of turning per mile, 1,877 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-2Easy · 1.17/mi
Distance
51.2 mi65 min riding
Corners
6052% sharp · Tight
Climbing
1,877 ft37 ft/mi · Rolling
Shape
LoopHalf day
Roads
Backroads81% county & local
Traffic
—no published counts
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Eldorado and Ossian sit on the Winneshiek upland, where the relief is moderate compared with the deepest river valleys yet still unmistakably Driftless. Ossian carries strong Norwegian roots, consistent with the broader cultural sphere centered on Decorah. The roads weave through mixed farm and woodland country, offering a spirited but less extreme sample of the regional character. Open ridge sections give a sense of space that the deeper coulees temporarily hide; both feelings belong to the same place. The profile is approachable while still delivering authentic texture. Use it as a recovery day between harder river routes, or as a first introduction to the upland side of northeast Iowa before descending into the more demanding Upper Iowa or Yellow River country. Gentle enough to enjoy, true enough to the place around Eldorado and Ossian.

How it rides

60 corners over 51.2 miles — 1.17 a mile, and 113° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-2, Easy on the five-point curviness scale. 52% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as tight.

What it climbs

The road climbs 1,877 feet in total, 37 feet per mile, between 849 and 1,291 feet — 442 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 232 feet over 1.8 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 6.0%. By Driftless standards that is rolling.

Surface, speed and traffic

84.6% paved — the rest is gravel or seal coat, so check the surface before you commit. 81% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 19% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 20% of the route. No published traffic counts cover this route, so it carries no traffic figure rather than a borrowed one.

Where to stop

1 of the towns on this road has somewhere to stop — 3 fuel, 6 food, 2 bars.

Longest stretch without fuel: 50.7 miles. Worth knowing before you set off if your tank is small.

Listed alphabetically, and chosen by us rather than rated by anybody. The order you reach them, and the mile each one sits at, are in the app.

Worth knowing

Turn-by-turn directions and the spoken guidance are in the app. Every figure on this page is measured from the route itself — corner counts and gradients from the road geometry, elevation from the national elevation dataset, traffic from the state transport departments where counts exist.

Nearby roads