This tour begins at the St. John's Lutheran Church. To reach the church, take US Rt. 220, south from Franklin, 9.4 miles, to a left turn onto Moyers Gap Road (Rt. 25). A landmark for the turn is the Cave Country Store and Campground. Travel 4.6 miles on Moyers Gap Road to get to the church, which is on the right at the intersection with Thorn Creek Road (Rt. 20), known locally as Upper Thorn Road.

Begin the tour by turning right onto Thorn Creek Road (Rt. 20). This ride has the least hill-climbing of the tours, because it circumnavigates the central ridge separating the Blackthorn and Whitethorn watersheds of Thorn Creek. The road surface is smooth and the views are expansive.

At 2.7 miles higher, drier soils create conditions suitable for pine trees, and the roadside becomes wooded. At 4.5 miles, reach Totten Chapel, and at 4.8 miles, bear left at the fork in the road onto a somewhat rougher surface which, although nameless at this end, is posted as Hiner Mill Road (Rt. 34) at its other end.

It is on this sinuous, hilly road, that the ridge separating the Blackthorn and the Whitethorn is crossed. At 7.2 miles, the road forks to abruptly intersect with Doe Hill Road (Rt. 23). Bear left at the fork and intersection, and begin a fairly straight but undulating smooth ride the length of the Whitethorn Valley. At 12.6 miles, turn left onto Moyers Gap Road (Rt. 25) and proceed 1.4 miles back to the starting point.