A Simple Country Road

Muskoka is land-rich.

In Toronto, there is no open space and the downtown core is becoming like Manhattan with high rises, people and shadows everywhere.  Muskoka is the opposite.  There are lots of open spaces, beautiful vistas, blue skies with white clouds, and lots of land...acres and acres of land.

A surplus of land makes one want to develop some of it.

Building a country road seems simple enough:
1.  First you have to survey it...which you learn once you've started the road and your neighbour claims you are on his land, not your own.
2.  Second you have to clear the land of trees.  This can be done one by one with a chainsaw or much faster with a very large, very expensive piece of equipment.  The first option seems cheaper until you are into your third week of paying the chainsaw operator and are only a few yards into the road.
3.  Third you have to figure out how the water flows and redirect it or ditch before you start putting down gravel.  This you learn the hard way after the first rain when your road completely washes away.
4.  Fourth, you need to bring in hard fill of some kind to set the road on its path.  Typical gravel is good, although larger stones are sometimes needed mixed in the gravel depending on how wet, muddy and soft the ground is.
5.  Fifth you need to weather 12 months with the road in place to identify the flaws.  Four full seasons are required, particularly in Muskoka where the winters are long and there is often a lot of water run off when Spring arrives and things start to thaw then freeze then thaw then freeze then thaw then freeze and finally thaw out completely in preparation for the Summer.

You can spend $200,000 without blinking for your rough country road.