So, I am always in the lookout for twisty roads to exercise my car's suspension (within speed limit of course). I was planning on going to CO this week but since I am on call I had to drop that.. I started looking online for twisties around Minnesota and found out about Wisconsin Alphabet soup. Those of you that own a bike must have heard of it. With only Sunday in hand, I didn't want to plan anything extremely ambitious. So I left St. Paul around 9:00am this morning and did a 450 miles run. Here is the route that I took. I did go up and down the same roads (WI 108, WI 162, WI 33 a few times). Here is a summary of the run : 1) Start at St. Paul, MN 2) Reach La Crosse, WI 3) Take WI 33 East (also known as Jackson St) to Hillsboro, WI. On the way to Hillsboro, you will drive through Ontario, WI and the Wildcat Mountains. WI 33 is a great highway and famous amongst the bikers. It starts out simple but once you reach the junction of WI 162 (may be a bit before that) you start to encounter the sweeping turns and tighter turns. Pavement is great so it's not too hard on your car. The real fun begins when you reach Ontario. Wildcat Mountain state park is in Ontario. When you reach Wildcat, you start seeing uphill sweeping turns, uphill decreasing radius turns. Once you climb to the top, you will encounter downhill sweeping turns and downhill decreasing radius turns. I originally planned on turning back right after Wildcat, but I decided to go a bit further up to Hillsboro. It was totally worth it. After Wildcat and up to Hillsboro, there are plenty of sweeping turns and twisties. The road continued that way, but I turned around after reaching Hillsboro. 4) On the way back, I took WI 33 West and went all the way up to the junction of WI 162. I took 162N, up to the junction of 16. Then I took 16 West to 108 N. Taking 108N I went up to Mindoro, WI. This was another great drive with plenty of twisties and sweeping turns to keep myself busy. I did this run a few times. 5) On my last run up to Mindoro, I took Country RD D west to head towards La Crosse. I found an exit to 90W and took that. 6) From I90 I took the exit to US 61 N and went up to Red Wing, MN through Winona, Lake City, Red Wing. Finally I took 52 to get back to St. Paul. At the end of the trip I checked my trip meter. It showed 454 miles. I had chased after twisties in TN/NC, MN, SD, CA, NY etc. This does not compare with many of the other great roads that I have driven in but it was worth it. So now the final question, anybody up for a planned run like this sometime this summer? It will be fun to put together a group of 3-5 cars and do this. Bikers do this in packs, we can do it as well ... Link to Google Map tracing the route : St. Paul, MN to La Crosse, WI to Hillsboro, WI to Mindoro, WI to Winona, MN to Lake City, MN to St. Paul, MN http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...44.138856,-90.785522&spn=1.450724,4.22699&z=9 BTW, I traded in my WRX, so I went up there in my Mazda3 (which didn't disappoint)! :unamused:
[qoute]Then I took 16 West to 108 N. Taking 108N I went up to Mindoro, WI.[/quote] +11111111 Love this road, it's a bit scary if I remember correctly. several "15MPH" turns near cliffs. Haven't driven it in about 5 years though.
Ah yes! I know the route quite well (btw im a member of zerogravity). In minnesota my favorite roads are twisty60 going into wabashaw and hy1 between grandmarai and ely!
You went right by some of the roads I have found to be a ton of fun, just east of Stockholm south all the way to Arcadia through the bluffs.
I took that route couple of years ago, though didn't take 95 to Arcadia. There is always a next time. =)
Well, if I were to do this I would I would obey all the group ride rules I've followed for bike rides. Everyone rides/drives at their own pace, and no one gets left behind. These cruises can get pretty intense and it pays to be safe!
There is a user here, bikerboy, he does "fun runs" that I think follow some of these roads. He does them in the fall, though. I'd be down for doing something like this sometime, I love twisty roads as much as everyone else does
