In this post, I share how I prepared for my backpacking trip on Isle Royale, specifically as it applies to being a type 1 diabetic. I also share pictures, my continuous glucose data, and thoughts about the experience.
Preparation
Isle Royale Information
Isle Royale is the least visited US National Park in the lower 48 states while being the most revisted National Park. While I think this is an interesting statistic (and after being there, do feel a pull to return) I also think that this fact is due to its location in Lake Superior, north of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Few people visit Isle Royale to check it off their National Parks list, as they do with Yosemite or Zion, and I found that many people visiting the island were local to the Midwest, specifically to Michigan’s upper peninsula.
I am from California where no one knows this park exists, and I learned far too late that “Royale” is pronounced ROY-ahl (as in royal blue) and not roy-AAL (as in the James Bond movie Casino Royale).
Due to its remote location, some planning is required to get there. The island can be accessed by boat or seaplane, with the ferries being cheaper and longer, and the seaplane being much shorter, more expensive, but also more flexible. I traveled to the island with my sister and a friend, and we opted to drive to Copper Harbor from southeast Michigan (about 9 hours) and take the Queen IV ferry to the island (about 3 hours). Another ferry leaves from Houghton, and while the ferry is longer (6 hours) there is a small nearby airport. National park passes are required on Isle Royale, and can be purchased beforehand, but I purchased them on the island in the form of an Interagency Annual Pass for my whole group. The NPS website provides great information on transportation and pass options.
Packing List
There is a lodge in Rock Harbor, near where our ferry docked, but we and many others choose to backpack Isle Royale. I packed for 3 nights of hiking, taking into consideration the extra supplies I would need as a type 1 diabetic. My sister is also diabetic, so I had the luxury of being able to prepare all my supplies with her second opinion.
Normal people stuff
Note that we were packing for estimated weather conditions of 55-65 °F (13-18 °C) which we were very lucky to experience.
- Backpack
- Tent (2 person backpacking tent for my sister and I)
- Sleeping pad
- Inflatable pillow
- Clothing
- Soft shell jacket (warm and water resistant)
- Long underwear
- Long undershirt
- Nylon hiking pants
- Synthetic hiking tee
- Sports bra like crop top thing
- Thin shorts
- 2 pairs of underwear
- 2 pairs of wool hiking socks
- Swimsuit
- Beanie
- Sun hat
- Thin gloves
- Sunglasses
- Kitchen ware
- JetBoil and fuel
- Spork
- Foldable knife
- Water filter (brought by my friend)
- Water bladder
- Safety stuff and miscellaneous
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Body wipes
- Toilet paper
- Matches
- First aid kit, moleskin, sanitizing wipes
- Headlamp
- Walkie talkies
- Duct tape and tent repair kit
- Topographical map (really handy)
- Power bank and cords
- Sunscreen
- Bug spray
Diabetes people stuff
Between my sister and I, who both use a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM) but do not use insulin pumps, we brought the following in extra quantities. We both inserted new CGM sensors before the trip with the expectation that we would not need to make a routine change.
- Syringes and pen needles
- Extra Humalog (short acting) and Basaglar (long acting) in a Frio insulin case (These cases do not keep insulin at refrigeration levels, but they keep insulin from getting overheated)
- One extra Dexcom sensor and transmitter
- Glucometer and test strips
- Alcohol swabs
- 2 Gvoke HypoPens (we each carried one to use on the other in an emergency)
- 2 extra Dexcom receivers (My sister and I default to using our phones as receivers, and I talk more about this below)
Food
My sister and I eat a low carb diet to help manage our diabetes, and we did not make any planned changes to our diet on this trip. That said, if there is one thing I recommend, it is to bring 10 times as much sugar as you could ever imagine needing.
- RX bars and nut butters for snacks and blood sugar boosts
- Quest bars
- Nuts
- Jerky
- Next Mile Meals for dinners and some breakfasts
- Gatorade drink powders for low blood sugars. We packed 10 of these (350g of sugar) and it was important that we did, even though this is way more fast acting sugar than my sister and I ever consume
- On day 1 we consumed some perishables, including boiled eggs and avocados
Day 1 - August 24
The night before our ferry, we camped at Lake Fanny Hooe in Copper Harbor. The Queen IV ferry was comfortable and got us to the island around 11:30am, where we were debriefed by a Ranger and registered for a camping permit. While the rangers will ask about your expected camping itinerary, there are no campsite reservations and the backcountry campsites operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. Given the abundance of campsites (including sheltered huts), fresh water from Lake Superior, and relatively mild elevation gain on the island, I think that Isle Royale makes for very well-facilitated backpacking for people looking to get into the hobby.
We decided to head to Daisy Farm for our first campsite, which was a 7 mile hike along the lake shore.
Within 30 minutes of beginning our hike, we saw a moose and her two calves drinking from the lake. We were told that she likes to hang out by the coast because the wolves are less of a threat to her babies there. We had to wait about 15 minutes or more to continue hiking, because they were all staying relatively close to the trail.
We made it to a hut at Daisy Farm by early evening. I had made the decision to use a Dexcom receiver instead of my phone, because I was worried about my phone running out of battery. It turned out that the Dexcom receiver’s battery life was worse than my phone’s, and because I was using my phone camera, I need to use my powerbank to charge my phone anyways. In the future, I will bring the Dexcom receiver as a backup device (with copies of my sensor and transmitter numbers) but keep everything connected to my phone. Another downside is that I do not have glucose data from this day that I could report from Dexcom Clarity, and I think it has to do with switching off my Dexcom phone app. For day 2 and beyond, I will share my glucose data.
Day 2 - August 25
For our first full day on the island, we planned to hike up and over the ridge from the Daisy Farm campsite to the Lane Cove campsite. Rain was on the forecast for this day, and we were lucky to have camped in a hut so we were protected when the morning rain came and went. We were much less prepared for what came later that day.
During our hike, what was originally light rain turned into very heavy rain. We ended up descending the north side of the ridge as fast as possible without stopping at the lookout tower, and we huddled down in lightening position for about 30 minutes while the storm passed. Once the conditions were safer, we quickly hiked to Lane Cove and set up our tent as fast as possible. We were lucky that the rest of the day (and weekend) was very sunny, and we were able to dry out our wet bags and gear with relative ease.
We had another beautiful sunset to end the day.
Below is my glucose data for the day. As a disclaimer, my CGM values were consistently tracking 20 points lower than my glucometer was indicating during the trip, so I have manually increased the values here to reflect my true glucose values. Although I was a bit high overnight, I was pleased with my values this day and most of my lows were superficial and easily treatable. This day, I had my long-acting insulin lowered by about 10% with no need to use any short-acting insulin. To maintain healthy blood sugars, I was eating more carbs than normal in the form of RX bars.
Day 3 - August 26
The next day and final full day on the island, we planned to hike up and over the ridge again to Three Mile Campsite, with a long 10-mile detour out to Lookout Louise. In total, the hike ended up being 15 miles with around 1000 feet of elevation gain with a heavy backpack. I was still giving 90% of my normal basal, but I should have been taking much less this day given my planned exertion.
Isle Royale has many of these planked walkways, which are wide enough to be much more fun than nerve wracking. While Isle Royale and Michigan’s upper peninsula are well known for having many mosquitos, they were not overwhelming, especially on the south side of the island. I did not use my headnet and was sparing in my use of insect repellent.
While my blood sugars stayed in range for the majority of the day, I have never experienced as much insulin sensitivity as I did this day. Between 11am and 3pm, I consumed over 100 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates (for me, this is astronomically high). Most of these carbohydrates were consumed in the form of Gatorade drink powders, which I highly recommend as a lightweight option to carry large quantities of glucose. I basically just kept chugging Gatorade throughout the whole hike, but did not actually see myself spike until the evening when I had eaten dinner and was sedentary again. This was an excellent learning lesson in titering my long-acting insulin for the degree of activity for the day, as the day prior, I was not this insulin sensitive.
Day 4 - August 27
The sunrise the next morning from Three Mile campsite was gorgeous.
This day, we only hiked 3 miles back to Rock Harbor. The picture below is one of my favorites, as I believe it captures the overall feel of the island best.
After yesterday’s blood sugars, I reduced my long acting insulin to 70% of my normal amount. I ended up running a little higher, but felt much safer. I do not eat much bread or grains, but had a burger at noon which was followed by a post postprandial spike. I was still taking minimal amounts of short acting insulin.
My final thoughts about the experience are that I was lucky to go to Isle Royale at a great time of year, experienced mostly ideal weather, and learned alot about my body’s needs during backpacking. Due to its location, there is a bit of a barrier to entry to get to this National Park, but I am so glad that I made the trek out while I am currently living in the Midwest. I was expecting the island to feel much more remote given its location, but the biggest surprise for me was not feeling too isolated at all. I have felt much more remote while hiking out west.
