They may have been lost or had a reason they needed to get to a real road ASAP. I was up in Snowshoe RTT and got off trail once and ended up on someone’s private road by accident. I got out of there as quickly and quietly as possible. I get lost around my house on my dirtbike all the time. This also happened to me on my mountain bike, and I just had to get to a road since I was miles off course and getting really thirsty. Hopefully this was a one time event for you.