We went driving in the truck this morning, up Shaws Pocket Road, which I had read a bit about online. If you look at the road on maps, you can see that it narrows down and continues through past a quarry to somewhere in Ormeau. After reading various forums online, I’m still not sure whether access to the road is entirely legal. It’s on maps, and there’s no signs forbidding access, but I have a feeling that if you follow it all the way to Ormeau it might go through some private land, particularly the bit near the quarry.

It was the first time we’d actually driven the truck in four wheel drive, so we locked the hubs in and headed up the steep dirt track. I wouldn’t want to go up there if it was raining, not unless we were much more experienced – it feels very steep, and there’s lots of dips in the track that would fill up with water. We only followed it for a little while, coming across one trail rider who saw us, swung around and rode away again (which somewhat confirms my feelings about the legality of access). I think it takes you up a ridge and then along the top of a range of hills – we could glimpse views down into the surrounding valleys through the trees.

I would be tempted to try out heading into the Logan Village pine forest, which is literally at the end of our street, but there’s plenty of signs around there forbidding access to cars and bikes. Despite that, it’s constantly full of trail bikes, judging by the noise on weekends, but it would be rather difficult to pretend you weren’t supposed to be in there – and I think the police do occasionally do some patrolling through there. I have this strange desire not to get arrested for trespassing. I think we’ll just stick to unsigned tracks and hope for the best.