Date: 2017-11-05
From: Lazy Hiker Brewing Company, Franklin

To: Carter Gap shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: overcast clouds

After having an amazingly rain-free run for the second half of the AT, with the only real precipitation having occurred when we were taking some spectacularly serendipitous zero days, the forecast is suggesting that our run of luck is about to come to an abrupt end.It rained overnight while we were in Franklin, just as it had the night before when we were camping, and the latest long-range forecast has it raining until just before we reach Springer Mountain.While rain tends to be far more of a problem for nobos in the spring, we were resigned to the next 110 miles or so being a damp affair but also knew that we were so close to the end that even a return of the snow was unlikely to stand in our way.Because of the threatening skies, we were very happy to defer our departure while we created a stonkingly good cooked breakfast at Gooder Grove. Usually we head to a diner for a final dose of town food but I don't know why it took us so long to realise that with a bit of work, an even better meal can be created in a hostel kitchen for a fraction of the cost.After Colin kindly drove us to the trail, the clouds remained grey, low and threatening but did not progress to actual rain as we ground our way back up to the ridgeline. Eventually some sunshine -- wan and chilled, admittedly, but sunshine nonetheless -- even began to shine through.We had a good landmark to aim for our midday break. Albert Mountain fire tower offered a fine view, particularly to the east, and although the viewing room was locked, the tower itself is exactly 99.9 miles from Springer Mountain. It's hard to believe all those months back in Maine that we'd finally be down to double-digits and with a finish date just six days away, but that wasn't the only Maine reference on offer here in the deep south: the trail headed down a series of sloping rock ledges in a distinctly Maine manner, requiring care and the use of hands. This was a reminder I didn't particularly need, but it was at least short lived and it made us more grateful when the trail resumed to the default setting of being a long series of traverses along the ridge.By mid afternoon the cloud level had lowered to envelope the ridge we were walking through, making it much more atmospheric and damp but still without any actual rain for the rest of the afternoon until we reached Carter Gap shelter. Georgia is barely half a mile away due south of us but from here the trail loops back towards the north and doesn't actually cross the border for another 15.4 miles. But by any measure we'll be in our 14th and final state by tomorrow.Life is good.AT fact of the day: My "last thing" for today is that I'm on the last fuel container of fuel for the trip, although not in happy circumstances. A pair of flip-flopping hikers who'd I'd met back in Vermont and who'd been at Gooder Grove last night are getting off the trail because the mother of one of them had died. They still had, I think, a few hundred miles to go but it sounds like they're now done with the trail for this year... I hope this is the last hiker getting off the trail we encounter.