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Rush Creek Bluffs Loop
Rush Creek Bluffs Loop is 39.8 miles of loop riding through Crawford and Vernon Counties in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 47 minutes; allow 70 with stops — a half morning. It is scored CS-2, Easy: 44 corners, 106° of turning per mile, 1,567 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.
- Curviness
- CS-2Easy · 1.11/mi
- Distance
- 39.8 mi47 min riding
- Corners
- 4434% sharp · Sweeping
- Climbing
- 1,567 ft40 ft/mi · Hilly
- Shape
- LoopHalf morning
- Roads
- Mixed roads27% county & local
- Traffic
- 2,700vehicles a day, median
- Speed limit
- 55 mphtypically 55
About this road
Rush Creek and the surrounding bluffs in Crawford and Vernon counties offer quieter river-adjacent riding than the main Great River Road while remaining fully connected to the big-river landscape. The classic Coulee Region mix of ridge and valley appears here with strong Mississippi influence. Seeking out the openings that give clear river and bluff views rewards the climbs with the defining prospect of the western Driftless. Traffic is lighter than on the primary scenic byway; the sense of place is intimate rather than grand around Rush Creek. Ideal when a quieter, more local sample of the river-edge country is wanted, or as a complement to the busier Great River Road segment for a full day that samples both the main corridor and its side valleys. Climb the side roads, find the openings, look across the Mississippi. The big river is still the main character.
How it rides
44 corners over 39.8 miles — 1.11 a mile, and 106° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-2, Easy on the five-point curviness scale. 34% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as sweeping.
What it climbs
The road climbs 1,567 feet in total, 40 feet per mile, between 613 and 1,206 feet — 593 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 359 feet over 1.4 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 7.4%. By Driftless standards that is hilly.
Surface, speed and traffic
Paved end to end. 27% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 73% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 73% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 26% of the miles — the median is 2,700 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 1.5 with 3,000.
Where to stop
2 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 3 food, 2 bars.
- De Soto
FoodGreat River Roadhouse · lunch, dinner
BarPork's Bar · 315 Main St
BarBrightspot Bar and Grill · 120 S Mill Park Dr
- Ferryville
FoodWooden Nickel Saloon · 136 Main Street, lunch, dinner
FoodFin's By the River · 175 Main Street, breakfast
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.
- Loop
Worth knowing
- Fuel sparse — top off before you go
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.