Thomas Divide (13.6 mi. new, 1.1 road)

Several cars left Food Lion at 7:45; I drove and my passengers were Bill Broome, Mike Miller, TJ Olnas, & Dale Teague. We reached the trailhead for Thomas Divide (below Newfound Gap in NC) ~9:15. Bill Woodrick set pace initially; when he stopped I led the way and we hit our planned lunch spot (junction of Sunkota Ridge Trail) at 11:00. I iced my knee there as we paused for a few minutes; our specific group (John, Dale, BZ, Judy, Pam & I) decided to go on on Thomas Divide and eat our lunch at 12:30. Some proceeded to go down Sunkota Ridge and a later group followed us.

Except for a stretch of uphill as we stayed on the Divide the trail was fairly level; however, the last part was going down the mountain. (This did a number on the 2nd toe--my longest one, of my left foot. We reached the trail end ~3:00; that is where the group picture was taken by John; from left to right they are Pam, BZ, me, Judy, and Dale. We then strolled in on a usable road (~1.1 mi.) to the Deep Creek picnic area where the bus was to pick us up.

Because there were 20+ hikers, the bus only cost each one $6.