Well I wanted to plant something rather than have bare dirt. I figure planting something would help with erosion and rain.

I agree adding seeds speeds things up over just waiting on Mother nature
But vetch is used by a LOT of hi way dept's due to how well it holds soil together, and grows like a weed fast LOL
the one farm I ran, a old farmer planted a 6 acre field of it, and he loved the darn stuff
every time it went to seed head and blew away
had that crap growing in all my food plots there up to 1/2 a mile away or more from the plot of it

chemicals handled it, but deer, bears, turkey, and small critters all loved it as well, cover and food in one

but if you DON"T control it , it will spread all over the place
on a logging type road, I don't think thats a big worry, the woods along it will slow its growth down a lot, but it will hold the soil in place once it takes root
, just drive on it enough to keep it lower LOL

Rye grass is way cheaper however!
some clover will grow in the shade, but I have never had it grow as well as rye grass, and even when clover again does grow, other things tend to out grow it and take over
clover seed isn't cheap either!
better for wildlife, yes, but not your wallet, and it won't last any ways!

I often use the shotgun approach instead of mono planting, I mix it up. Whatever does well in that soil usually takes over anyway. So instead of mono planting and having it fail for whatever reason, with a mixed planting something always does OK and survives.

The trails we planted were 4X trails near a bird sanctuary. The Jeeps would rut them but the centers and edges had a lot of mixed grasses and weeds. This was in very dry Chaparral country, if you use the shotgun approach something always survives.

One thing we did do, that worked well, was we would cut an established section after it seeded an spread the cuttings onto naked shoulders. The stuff that was established was obviously doing well.

The down side to Rye is, if you get good rain it gets really tall and thick in the late spring. If you miss the spring/early summer mowing you end up with something that can be hard to drive or walk through.

Bishops weed may be unlawful to plant in your area. If it is allowed it may be a choice, does well in the shade. Deer will eat it but it is pretty far down their list of favorites. It throws a mess of seed around a month or so before Dove season. Worse than Vetch as far as taking over is concerned. The up side is Bishops weed is SHTF food and actually tastes pretty good, kind of like spinach. If you are into planning for the worst, not bad choice to have growing someplace if you can keep it under control.

The trick to planting Vetch is the first time you plant it you need to add some sort of Bacteria to the earth. After it gets going it will produce it's own bacteria and you can shovel some of the dirt from an established plot to start a new plot.