AD Bar Trail #14 to VT Cabin
On Saturday, I took Kimberly and Madison on an overnight backpacking trip along AD Bar Trail #14 to the VT Cabin. This was Maddy's first backpacking trip, and she was definitely in for an adventure!
I backpacked this same trail last year with another group of friends, but this time it was almost unrecognizable. The recent heavy rains in Arizona had washed out large sections of the trail, leaving behind a muddy, rocky mess. All the creeks were flowing, which made for some interesting water crossings.
Fortunately, we were able to follow a set of horse tracks through the mud, along with a GPS route I'd created beforehand. Even with those clues, it was a challenging hike with plenty of creek crossings, route-finding, and navigating washed-out sections of trail.
After 9.5 miles, we finally reached the VT Cabin, only to discover it was already occupied by a couple of friendly hunters. As we'd suspected, they were the ones responsible for the horse tracks we'd been following all day!
We had hoped to spend the night inside the cabin, but since the hunters had arrived first, we set up our tents outside instead.
Thankfully, the overnight temperatures weren't nearly as cold as we'd anticipated. When I backpacked here last year, temperatures dropped below freezing. This time, the low was around 33°F.
Unfortunately, we woke up to an incredible amount of condensation inside our tents. I've dealt with plenty of condensation while backpacking, but this was probably the worst I'd ever seen. Our tents were absolutely drenched!
The next morning, I cooked up some scrambled eggs and ham using the six eggs I'd carefully carried in my backpack. A hot breakfast was exactly what we needed before tackling the hike back out.
The return trip was another 9.5 miles, this time with 2,618 feet of elevation gain. Between the climbing, creek crossings, and challenging trail conditions, it was a moderately strenuous hike back to the trailhead.
All told, we covered 19 miles over two days, with plenty of mud, water crossings, and a little unexpected adventure along the way.
Not a bad introduction to backpacking for Maddy! Hopefully, we haven't scared her away from doing it again.
