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Wildcat Mountain Twisties

Wildcat Mountain Twisties is 25.6 miles of point-to-point riding through Monroe and Vernon Counties in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 31 minutes; allow 45 with stops — a quick spin. It is scored CS-4, Twisty: 44 corners, 163° of turning per mile, 934 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-4Twisty · 1.72/mi
Distance
25.6 mi31 min riding
Corners
4436% sharp · Sweeping
Climbing
934 ft37 ft/mi · Rolling
Shape
Point-to-pointQuick spin
Roads
Highway miles0% county & local
Traffic
1,500vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Wildcat Mountain State Park protects a dramatic ridge rising above the Kickapoo River. The name comes from a nineteenth-century bobcat that preyed on local sheep and was hunted near the present overlook. The park began with a twenty-acre gift in 1938 and now covers thousands of acres of bluffs, old-growth pockets, and trails. Surrounding roads are among the twisty and scenic highlights of the Coulee Region. Just downstream, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve preserves a large area once slated for a dam—an unfinished project that became protected land instead. The park overlooks at Wildcat Mountain, and a short hike or paddle when time allows, complete the experience of one of the region’s signature places. Few routes combine pure riding quality with such a concentrated set of natural and historical landmarks. Climb to the overlook at Wildcat Mountain, look down on the Kickapoo, feel the story of the place. The bobcat is long gone; the views remain.

How it rides

44 corners over 25.6 miles — 1.72 a mile, and 163° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-4, Twisty on the five-point curviness scale. 36% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as sweeping.

What it climbs

The road climbs 934 feet in total, 37 feet per mile, between 863 and 1,367 feet — 504 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 342 feet over 2.4 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 7.6%. By Driftless standards that is rolling.

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 3% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 25% of the miles — the median is 1,500 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 0.0 with 4,100.

Where to stop

3 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 5 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