My canoe trip to Algonquin Park over the May long weekend was nothing short of incredible.
My 7-year old daughter and I had the most amazing time. We got to parking lot around 2pm, and loaded up the canoe.
Then we set off towards our first portage.
On our way!
From previous experience, I know that doing hard, steady work (snowshoeing, hiking) means I need to cut back on my basal rate. This was the first time I camped using my pump, so I figured -%20 would be fine to start while we portaged. I was worried that it might still keep me too high, but I would rather be a bit too high than hit a low.
420m Portage!
We started the portage with all our gear first. It was pretty tough, with lots of ups and downs. We ended up keeping track of how far we were going by the mud holes; there were 4 mud holes.
I was really worried about carrying the canoe all by myself, but I just focused on the gear I was carrying. We made it to the end of the portage and dropped our gear. We took a little water break, and then headed back for the canoe and the food barrel.
My daughter was incredible. She carried our bear barrel, which was pretty heavy, all the way to the end of the portage without any help from me.
I hefted the kevlar canoe over my head and began the uphill trek. It was hard. I made it about 150m before I had to set it down and take a break. By then, I just couldn’t lift it again. I was so slow that River (my daughter) had had time to drop off the food barrel and come back to help me.
We each took an end and we very slowly, very carefully, carried the canoe to the end. It was incredibly hard, but she didn’t complain once. She just took it in stride and helped me get that canoe to the other side.
I was so proud of her, and I made sure I told her too.
We loaded the canoe back up and got on the water.
By the time we got to camp it had started to rain. Luckily it was just a light drizzle, so setting up camp under the canopy of the forest kept us mostly dry.
When everything was set up, we were tired and hungry. I did a blood test and I was shocked that it was only 5.2mmol (93mg) because my basal rate was still set to -%20.
When it comes to gluten-free cooking on the trail, rice noodles pack an amazing carb punch. Normally, in pasta dishes, I replace the noodles with zucchini noodles that I make with a spiralizer. However, when camping/hiking/canoeing, you end up burning so many carbs that it’s really important to refuel. Rice noodles have a higher carb content than regular wheat noodles, without the gluten.
Dinner was rice noodles with a couple of handfuls of dehydrated veggies, and dehydrated ground beef. When it was finished cooking, I poured out the extra water, and I added a generous pat of butter.
We enjoyed our dinner from inside the bug shelter.
The next morning I woke up with high blood sugars. I was at 15.6mmol (280mg) because I had kept the -%20 basal rate throughout the night, which after such a high carb dinner, I probably didn’t need to worry about.
I also had a very deep fear of going low in the night because our food was so far away from the camp site. I was pretty paranoid about keeping anything smelly (including dextrose tabs) inside the tent in case a bear decided to visit our camp.
For breakfast, I made bacon and eggs with ready crisp bacon. I normally never eat that stuff, but for the trail it keeps really well unrefrigerated.
We spent the day doing lots of canoeing, going back to the car (another portage!) to pickup my friend and bring her back to the site.
We stayed around camp mostly, and decided to do the Barron Canyon the next day. Which was an amazing decision because the sun was bright and shiny for the whole day on Sunday while we canoed the canyon.
It always amazes me how life clings on to most barren places.
From on top of the Barron Canyon.
diabetictrekker 