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Cataract–Melrose Backroads

Cataract–Melrose Backroads is 37.8 miles of point-to-point riding through Monroe and La Crosse Counties in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 48 minutes; allow 70 with stops — a half morning. It is scored CS-3, Spirited: 54 corners, 137° of turning per mile, 1,662 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-3Spirited · 1.43/mi
Distance
37.8 mi48 min riding
Corners
5444% sharp · Mixed
Climbing
1,662 ft44 ft/mi · Steep
Shape
Point-to-pointHalf morning
Roads
Backroads50% county & local
Traffic
2,100vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Cataract and Melrose sit in the Black River and small-tributary country of Monroe and La Crosse counties. Quiet back roads with solid climbing and a less-visited feel distinguish the area from the main Kickapoo or Mississippi corridors. The terrain remains classic Coulee Region even when the big-name rivers are farther away. Local history is agricultural and small-town; the landform is the primary interest. Solitude and consistent road quality are the rewards around Cataract and Melrose. Ideal for riders who prefer the quieter edges of the region over the more famous corridors, and who value continuous engagement with a working landscape that still carries the full Coulee signature. Also a peaceful counterpoint within a larger itinerary that includes the better-known Kickapoo or river-road routes. No crowds, no famous names—just the land around Cataract and Melrose and the quiet roads that follow it.

How it rides

54 corners over 37.8 miles — 1.43 a mile, and 137° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-3, Spirited on the five-point curviness scale. 44% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as mixed.

What it climbs

The road climbs 1,662 feet in total, 44 feet per mile, between 693 and 1,198 feet — 504 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 426 feet over 3.9 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 9.6%. By Driftless standards that is steep.

Surface, speed and traffic

Paved end to end. 50% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 50% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 38% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 22% of the miles — the median is 2,100 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 37.2 with 9,200.

Where to stop

5 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 4 fuel, 3 food, 6 bars.

Longest stretch without fuel: 37.5 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.

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