The Underground Railroad was not one road but many.
They were dirt trails or paths through woods, over fields, and across rivers and swamps. Although few could swim, runaways often looked for water crossings, where the dogs that chased them would lose the smells that helped track them. Along these routes were farmhouses, barns, and churches where conductors hid runaways for a day or week, until they could get safely to the next station on their way to freedom. The road to freedom went as far north as Canada.
