ScenicCurves

Home / Routes / Wisconsin / Kickapoo North: Wilton to Viroqua

Kickapoo North: Wilton to Viroqua

Kickapoo North: Wilton to Viroqua is 35.7 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 42 minutes; allow 60 with stops — a half morning. It is scored CS-4, Twisty: 60 corners, 145° of turning per mile, 2,041 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.

Curviness
CS-4Twisty · 1.68/mi
Distance
35.7 mi42 min riding
Corners
6045% sharp · Mixed
Climbing
2,041 ft57 ft/mi · Relentless
Shape
Point-to-pointHalf morning
Roads
Highway miles1% county & local
Traffic
1,400vehicles a day, median
Speed limit
55 mphtypically 55
Open this route in the app

About this road

The northern Kickapoo approach from Wilton toward Viroqua brings big climbs and the gradual transition from higher country into the deeper valley. Relentless character and strong scenic value mark the roads. Headwaters country is quieter and less visited than the middle valley around Ontario and La Farge. Feeling the landscape character change while moving downstream along the Kickapoo’s logic is one of the quieter satisfactions of the day. The point-to-point structure from Wilton toward Viroqua makes the topographic and hydrological transition clear. Ideal when the goal is to experience the Kickapoo system from its quieter upper reaches, or as a demanding connector within a larger Kickapoo-focused itinerary. Start high near Wilton, follow the water down, feel the valley deepen. The Kickapoo grows as you ride.

How it rides

60 corners over 35.7 miles — 1.68 a mile, and 145° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-4, Twisty on the five-point curviness scale. 45% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as mixed.

What it climbs

The road climbs 2,041 feet in total, 57 feet per mile, between 794 and 1,283 feet — 489 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 401 feet over 2.0 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 9.3%. By Driftless standards that is relentless.

Surface, speed and traffic

99.3% paved; the odd short stretch is gravel or seal coat. 1% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 99% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 65% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 29% of the miles — the median is 1,400 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 35.7 with 3,400.

Where to stop

4 of the towns on this road have somewhere to stop — 4 fuel, 8 food, 3 bars.

Longest stretch without fuel: 15.5 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