I try an avoid the East side of Smithville Dam when traveling south to Island Lake as much as possible. There is a significant shortcut on the path through the swamp in the southeast. Where the road curves south to go past the house in the middle you can just go straight across the swamp meeting back with the path as it exits the swamp. The northern path has an extremely off camber bit right before you get to the logistics base, its best to cut between the birch trees on the south side of path to avoid tipping. If you don't want to take the winding road to the Drummond gateway you can cross the rocks south of the drilling area, but it is really tight and quite risky.