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Eitzen and the Southern Coulees

Eitzen and the Southern Coulees is 22.7 miles of loop riding through Houston County in Minnesota — Bluff Country, the Root River valley, the Mississippi bluffs and the ridge roads above them. Moving time is about 31 minutes; allow 45 with stops — a quick spin. It is scored CS-4, Twisty: 39 corners, 148° of turning per mile, 1,034 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-4Twisty · 1.72/mi
Distance
22.7 mi31 min riding
Corners
3954% sharp · Tight
Climbing
1,034 ft46 ft/mi · Steep
Shape
LoopQuick spin
Roads
Backroads100% county & local
Traffic
857vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
60 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Eitzen is a small community near the Iowa line; the surrounding coulees are steep, quiet, and continuous with the Iowa Driftless just to the south. High corner density and technical character come in a compact package. The same geology and land-use patterns cross the border without interruption. Low traffic and strong scenic value make the loop a concentrated dose of Bluff Country twistiness around Eitzen—ideal when the goal is pure riding quality in a short distance. There are few services; preparation matters. A pure expression of the borderland coulee network, rewarding riders who value geometric intensity and solitude over amenities or famous landmarks. Also a natural link for multi-day itineraries that cross between Minnesota and Iowa portions of the Driftless. Short, sharp, and completely shaped by the land around Eitzen.

How it rides

39 corners over 22.7 miles — 1.72 a mile, and 148° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-4, Twisty on the five-point curviness scale. 54% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as tight.

What it climbs

The road climbs 1,034 feet in total, 46 feet per mile, between 1,016 and 1,339 feet — 323 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 175 feet over 1.5 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 7.5%. By Driftless standards that is steep.

Surface, speed and traffic

Paved end to end. 100% of it is back road rather than highway. Posted speeds run to 60 mph, typically 55, measured across 23% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 26% of the miles — the median is 857 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 0.0 with 4,604.

Where to stop

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

Longest stretch without fuel: 21.4 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