I have just had an epic evening.
I put my in your face heavy two handed thug aside and started a new character to try a bit of sneaky stabby fun.
Well after getting out Helgen I realized that I needed to get the other side of the mountain range if I wanted to visit Riften where suggestions had been made that I could find a less virteous kind of folk, if you get my drift.

Two ways - the easy way all the way round the top. Or the peverse and dumb south and east and try to go over the mountains.
For the sheer hell of it I thought I would try the mountain route - despite there being no obvious easy route. And off I set....

First thing I bumped into was a stray dog lost and lonely, who I soon adopted as a pet. It is a companion and fights for me (ala Fallout 3 Dog), but was totally off the beaten track and a surprise - nearly flame grilled it before I realized it wasn't attacking but wimpering.

Next I was trudging along the peaks when an Imperial patrol rushed past shouting 'This is no concern of yours Citizen' and charged a party of elves (Thalmor from the looks) . [Nice random AI only scrap - first I've seen like that]
Pity they didn't ask if it did concern me, or if I fancied helping, as the Elves kicked the snot out them. most enteraining to watch as a total spectator to other folks fueds...

Venturing further south and east over the peaks I stumbled across a cave and wandered in out of the snow.
It was a wonderful dungeon, very well done and entertaining and even had a nifty little 'rescue' quest bit in it. I won't spoil it, but it was a real fun dungeon, and even better for being a cave well off the beaten track right in the middle of no-where.
I don't know if you get a quest somewhere from some npc to go there or anything, but if not and you are south and east of Helgen, up in the mountains - watch out for a cave with a bandit door guard...

Finally when I hit a dead end - but with the possibilty of jumping down boulders to an area below I noticed a crate next to a tree. Totally middle of no-where, and there is a crate of loot just waiting to be 'borrowed'.



What I expected to be a rather dull hour of running round peaks looking for away over turned out to be an enjoyable romp and gained me a pet dog to boot.
So if the mood takes you to just wander off away from the beaten track why not give it a go.

I agree with you completely. As far as I've been able to tell, running around on the roads gives you an easier time of navigation and a slightly higher likelihood of getting attacked by bandits or whoever else. There's no telling what you're likely to find if you pick a direction and just try to go as the crow flies.

Exactly. I do quite often wander off trails, there often is some cool stuff you can find there.

Thats one of the reasons I don't fast travel. Every time I've travelled from place to place, something unusual and fun happens.

I love the random encounters in Skyrim. Yesterday I was walking on some road, and ran into some Vigilants of Stendarr. Decided to follow them to see where they went, about 15 minutes (real time) later, we arrived at a Vigilant hideout in the middle of nowhere. On the way we ran into bandits and wolves, and the vigilants helped me kick their backsides. Such a delightful surprise. I imagine they'll get less delightful as I run into them more often (I've already seen a Falmer patrol twice) but for now, it's really cool.

The issue I have with this is...I've been glitched too many times.

WHAT do you mean Dear Brother?

The Red Eagle Quest...Ok...so I found it on my own with out reading the book (Which I found out puts the quest marker on your map where to start the search/adventure).

I got the sword, it told me to go to the Quest right? Awesome!

So I get there, Do my thing (I AM NOT SPOILING THIS)...
and I noticed...Oh hey! A book to add to my collection! Sweet!

Wolf Queen v6.

I picked it up...try to put it in my shelf with the other wolf queens...says its a quest item...

I think nothing of it...nothing in my quest log...so yay...I'm stuck with this book in my inventory, no big deal its 1lb...

I'll SPOIL This section to help people realise/hope it won't glitch your game (I hope patch fixes this on T-day)...
Well the Orc in The College of WInterhold, he says he wants this book FLAT out, first book he wants you to find...he keeps telling you to go back to Where the Red Eagle quest took you...and...its in my inventory.

Lately, if I find some random loot and it winds up being a quest item later..I wind up GLITCHING my game and not being able to complete said quest.

Same thing with some of the dragons in their mountains...I killed like 2 looking for more shouts...and come to find out I could have been PAID/Bounty to kill said dragon...they don't have the quest for it anymore...SOME let me just tell the Houscarl/Assistant etc "Hey I killed the bounty..." they pay me, alot of them don.t =/

this is pissing me off because I found a Rare Axe before I was supposed to...now it says I failed a quest because I found it too soon! (I Killed the guy that I would have had to kill to get the axe and give it to the quest giver in the first place!)

BTW this isn't me disagreeing with the OP if you thought it was..I LOVE exploring on my own...but lately its been cost effective to do so.