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Cranberry Country Cruise

Cranberry Country Cruise is 47.5 miles of point-to-point riding through Monroe County in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 56 minutes; allow 80 with stops — a half morning. It is scored CS-1, Cruiser: 30 corners, 59° of turning per mile, 1,275 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-1Cruiser · 0.63/mi
Distance
47.5 mi56 min riding
Corners
3040% sharp · Mixed
Climbing
1,275 ft27 ft/mi · Gentle
Shape
Point-to-pointHalf morning
Roads
Mixed roads37% county & local
Traffic
3,300vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Monroe County is a major cranberry-producing region; the marshes and associated infrastructure are visible from the roads and give the landscape a distinctive industrial-agricultural character. Terrain is gentler than the deepest coulees, with a more open feel. The contrast between cranberry country and the steep Driftless valleys farther south or west is instructive. Easy logistics and a different scenic flavor within the broader Coulee Region make the ride a useful counterpoint to the more dramatic routes. Ideal when a less intense physical day is wanted, or when the goal is to sample a distinctive land-use pattern that still sits inside the larger unglaciated landscape of Monroe County. The open character and agricultural focus provide a clear contrast to the wooded coulees and river bluffs that dominate other parts of the set. Different country, same region. Worth seeing for the contrast alone.

How it rides

30 corners over 47.5 miles — 0.63 a mile, and 59° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-1, Cruiser 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 1,275 feet in total, 27 feet per mile, between 793 and 1,182 feet — 389 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 194 feet over 1.6 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 7.1%. By Driftless standards that is gentle.

Surface, speed and traffic

Paved end to end. 37% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 63% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 62% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 27% of the miles — the median is 3,300 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 1.2 with 14,200.

Where to stop

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

Longest stretch without fuel: 47.4 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