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May 10, 2025 - Thorne to Sandspit

Deb and I left her place at 05:30 and drove up to Deep River where we met Deb's brother Jim and his wife Janice who were gracious enough to help us shuttle Deb's truck into Rabbit Lake Road and then us to the southern terminus of the trail in Thorne to start our hike. Rabbit Lake Road was going to be the wildcard. We had received word from Murray Muir that he had attempted the road earlier in the week and found it impassible due to deep snow about six kilometeres in. Fortunately by the time we arrived, it seemed that the snow had melted off. We had to stop once to probe a flooded area before driving through, and a couple times to move small fallen trees that blocked our path, but in the end we were successful in getting Deb's truck all the way to the end of the road. First mission accomplished, we all piled into Jimmy's truck and had a comfortable ride back out the bush road followed by highway driving to Thorne.

Flooding on Rabbit Lake Road


A bit of road work


After thanking Jimmy and Janice profusely for this service, we struck out on an ATV trail, making a long ascent. At the top we stopped to catch our breath and myself to adjust my boot lacing, and as we sat blocking the middle of the trail, of course this was the only time we encountered someone on an ATV. A friendly fellow stopped to say hello and re-assured us that we were on the right track to the OTHT, because as of yet we had not seen a sign nor marker indicating that we were on the trail. He also told us that there was another solo hiker ahead of us by about an hour.

Departing from the nursing station in Thorne


A flooded spot along the ATV trail


Once we got on the trail propper leaving Porcupine Creek Bush road behind, we found the path to be well marked and very pretty with views high above Lake Temiskaming. Trilliums were everywhere and just starting to bloom, but most importantly there were no biting insects! The occasional patch of snow marked a winter gone by, but things were melting fast, and in no way did snow hamper our progress at any point.

Deer snacks


With all the driving we did not expect to get too far today, but as the first campsite did not look very appealing, we pushed on to Sandspit Camp which was nice, though somewhat exposed and very windy. Nevertheless, the day was getting late so we stopped here. As we enjoyed a small fire with our supper in the early evening we watched the moon rise as the sun set before heading off to bed.

Windy camping and Sandspit


Hike Time: 3.25 hours
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