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Galesville–Ettrick–Holmen Loop

Galesville–Ettrick–Holmen Loop is 50.9 miles of loop riding through Trempealeau and La Crosse Counties in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 64 minutes; allow 95 with stops — a half day. It is scored CS-3, Spirited: 74 corners, 132° of turning per mile, 1,892 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-3Spirited · 1.45/mi
Distance
50.9 mi64 min riding
Corners
7446% sharp · Tight
Climbing
1,892 ft37 ft/mi · Rolling
Shape
LoopHalf day
Roads
Backroads62% county & local
Traffic
850vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

Galesville, Ettrick, and Holmen occupy the northern Coulee Region, where the roads are scenic, rolling, and relatively gentle. Galesville has a pretty setting and small-town charm; the surrounding country mixes agriculture and woodland. Lower intensity than the Vernon County epics still leaves the ride fully inside the Driftless landscape. A longer, more relaxed day suits the softer rhythm and consistent rural scenery around Galesville, Ettrick, and Holmen. Ideal when a less demanding full-day or long half-day is wanted, or when the goal is to absorb the everyday texture of the northern Coulee without chasing maximum technical scores. Services are available in the towns; the middle miles supply continuous scenery and solitude. Long, open, and easy to settle into. Let the quieter country do the work.

How it rides

74 corners over 50.9 miles — 1.45 a mile, and 132° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-3, Spirited on the five-point curviness scale. 46% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as tight.

What it climbs

The road climbs 1,892 feet in total, 37 feet per mile, between 644 and 1,113 feet — 469 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 342 feet over 2.2 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 10.1%. By Driftless standards that is rolling.

Surface, speed and traffic

Paved end to end. 62% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 38% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 28% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 34% of the miles — the median is 850 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 36.3 with 8,200.

Where to stop

4 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 3 fuel, 7 bars.

Longest stretch without fuel: 36.4 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