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The Root River Round Trip

The Root River Round Trip is 51.9 miles of loop riding through Fillmore County in Minnesota — Bluff Country, the Root River valley, the Mississippi bluffs and the ridge roads above them. Moving time is about 62 minutes; allow 90 with stops — a half day. It is scored CS-3, Spirited: 68 corners, 114° of turning per mile, 2,036 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-3Spirited · 1.31/mi
Distance
51.9 mi62 min riding
Corners
6850% sharp · Tight
Climbing
2,036 ft39 ft/mi · Hilly
Shape
LoopHalf day
Roads
Backroads100% county & local
Traffic
874vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
60 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

This longer exploration of the Root River valley and its flanking ridges allows a full day of both river-bottom towns and high country. The Root River State Trail parallels parts of the valley and remains one of Minnesota’s premier multi-use paths. Stopping in at least one of the valley towns—Lanesboro, Whalan, Peterson, or another—supplies the river-town atmosphere that anchors the landscape. The full-day length and mixed terrain make the loop a comprehensive sample of the Root River system. It works well as a centerpiece day within a multi-day itinerary, or as a stand-alone expedition for riders who want both the intimate scale of the valley and the expansive scale of the uplands in a single effort. Water, bluffs, Lanesboro and its neighbors, and the ridges in continuous conversation.

How it rides

68 corners over 51.9 miles — 1.31 a mile, and 114° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-3, Spirited on the five-point curviness scale. 50% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as tight.

What it climbs

The road climbs 2,036 feet in total, 39 feet per mile, between 713 and 1,315 feet — 602 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 274 feet over 1.0 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 10.5%. By Driftless standards that is hilly.

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 66% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 18% of the miles — the median is 874 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 51.6 with 1,504.

Where to stop

3 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 2 fuel, 7 food, 3 bars.

Longest stretch without fuel: 34 miles. Worth knowing before you set off if your tank is small. Some towns on this road are not yet measured along the line, so treat that as the worst case rather than the likely one.

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