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Kickapoo–Hillsboro Grand Loop

Kickapoo–Hillsboro Grand Loop is 41.3 miles of loop riding through Vernon County in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 49 minutes; allow 70 with stops — a half morning. It is scored CS-4, Twisty: 73 corners, 163° of turning per mile, 2,040 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-4Twisty · 1.77/mi
Distance
41.3 mi49 min riding
Corners
7340% sharp · Mixed
Climbing
2,040 ft50 ft/mi · Relentless
Shape
LoopHalf morning
Roads
Highway miles0% county & local
Traffic
900vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Linking Kickapoo country with Hillsboro, the Czech cultural center of the area, produces big climbing, strong scenery, and a clear cultural dimension. Hillsboro’s heritage adds festivals, food, and architecture to the physical landscape. The route samples both the intimate Kickapoo valleys and the slightly more open country toward Hillsboro. Noticing landform and cultural markers together gives the ride its fuller meaning. Ideal for riders who want both substantial elevation and a tangible cultural destination, and who can combine the two in a single coherent day. The combination of river-valley intimacy and the Czech heritage of Hillsboro makes the experience distinctive within the broader Coulee Region. Climb the valleys, arrive in Hillsboro, the Czech Capital of Wisconsin. Both the land and the culture are worth the effort.

How it rides

73 corners over 41.3 miles — 1.77 a mile, and 163° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-4, Twisty on the five-point curviness scale. 40% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as mixed.

What it climbs

The road climbs 2,040 feet in total, 50 feet per mile, between 794 and 1,345 feet — 551 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 264 feet over 1.6 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 9.1%. By Driftless standards that is relentless.

Surface, speed and traffic

Paved end to end. 0% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 100% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 27% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 31% of the miles — the median is 900 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 11.9 with 2,200.

Where to stop

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

Longest stretch without fuel: 15.6 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