Would I Want to Have a Road When I Own Land.

When I eventually own land and a home, one question I wonder is if I really want road access from my house.

Most people’s houses are on the road, or connected to the road via gravel or in the city, blacktop driveway. Due the cost of maintaining a road, most driveways are relatively short, with houses being within sight of the road. There are good reasons for having a road, namely it makes it easier to get to and from home, and in case of a fire, makes it much easier for a fire to put out by the fire department.

The flip side, is having a road means your closer to the road, with more noise, less privacy. But it also makes it a lot easier for random people to stop by and visit. Few people are going to venture up a heavily posted four-wheeler trail, certainly not strangers. You are more restricted what you can do on your land, if you have nosey neighbors peering in all of the time.

Roads are expensive to maintain in the back country. Mother nature abhors roads, it is always trying to wash out culverts and gravel, erode driveways up the mountainsides. Trees come down blocking access, and mud season is particularly problematic, as big heavy 4×4 pickup trucks really can tear up roads especially on soft ground with regular use. Plus driving a rough road can make a mess out of the suspension, wearing out all kinds of components prematurely.

But if you don’t have a road, walking out to your vehicle can quickly get old, especially if you are a few miles back from the road. Riding a quad or snowmobile is a lot of fun, but for most jobs they probably don’t appreciate you showing up to work smelling like gasoline and covered with mud. I guess the alternative would be to have a trail that wide enough for an enclosed UTV, which could make it through the mud and muck, without having a full-blown road to use.

Then there is the problem with leaving a vehicle un-monitored at the start of the trail back to your home. A car or truck left on the road without anybody supervising it could lead to vandalism, especially if your back in the woods for an extended time period. While a solar panel and charge controller could keep the battery topped off, and you could use a game camera to monitor the vehicle, you have to wonder the wisdom of leaving something sitting for days without you monitoring it.