Off roading in a Harley?

Well on Friday we decided to go on a little ride around Northumberland County. There are some fabulous roads here and the countryside is lovely. Some of the roads twist and turn and go up and down. Most are excellent riding roads that are either paved or hard packed. Now on our adventure that day we sought out the Primrose Donkey Sanctuary. There we met some very interesting characters and took photos of most of them.




After visiting them we decided, or at least I decided that we continue down the road that the Sanctuary was on and see where it went. The maps and GPS said that this road went south about 8 km and met up with a secondary county road that we had already been on. So off we went.
The first couple of km or so was lovely with a forest all around and the road was firm and smooth. After about 3 kms the road began to narrow but was still rideable. It then began to twist and turn and looked more like forest trail. Still not bad. We were about 6 kms into it when this road was no longer a road but a Jeep trail used as a snowmobile trail in the winter! It suddenly began to go up a steep incline and was rutted and rocky! Now a 900 lb Harley Dresser with two people on board IS NOT an off road bike! But I know from my Police training that if ridden right and with the proper ground clearance the old Harley will go just about anywhere. So gunning the old girl and dropping into a lower gear I attacked the steep hill. Dar was on the back quietly shitting herself praying that I wouldn't dump her onto the bush on either side. Up we went, back wheel spinning up dirt and rocks (luckily it was bone dry) in and out of some nasty ruts but standing on the running boards I guided the beast up the hill and onto some level ground. at the top of this hill we came upon a farmer's field access and the road improved somewhat. After another km we emerged from the forest trail and onto the county road. Stopping here I looked back at the sign that was posted at the beginning on the road. UNASSUMED ROAD USE AT OWN RISK OFF ROAD VEHICLE ONLY...well what do you know, we have an off road Harley! Dar was not impressed.