T1D Adventure Trek – I did it!

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, I returned to St. John’s, Newfoundland, after finishing the Adventure Trek experience with Connected in Motion on the East Coast Trail. I am feeling fulfilled, energetic, and accomplished, despite the fact that it was not easy!

I hiked the East Coast Trail with 10 other incredible women all with T1D: Amy and Sarah (our guides), Jenn, Shannon, Nicole, Christine, Savannah, Kelley, Susha, and Neha – all who are from different parts of the US, Canada and Australia! These women I can now call friends, and with whom I’ve built lifetime bonds. We each carried packs that ranged from 40 – 55lbs, which carried all of our group gear: tents, propane canisters, pots and pans, food and utensils, water and water purification gear, and all of our personal clothing, medicines and belongings. We hiked over 5 days (the first day was a practice hike, where we went back to sleep in our hostel), and 3 nights in our tents. We had incredible weather (despite wildfires now raging in Newfoundland and a lack of rain), and we built bonds that will last a lifetime. Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qpnvFpNWLac1EFvUA

I am still trying to process everything that happened – it was very difficult both physically and mentally, but it was also one of the most rewarding and supportive experiences that I have ever been through in my life. Each of us experienced different issues along the trail – from low and high blood sugars to personal and emotional things that came up – and no matter what, we were there for each other, understanding exactly what each of us needed. We were also the first all-female adventure trek team!

The first day of the hike was beautiful and mostly all with a wonderful view of the ocean. We saw some whales, experienced a fog burst and did the longest hike of the 4 days, so we settled in quickly that night, ate and shared stories and then slept a bit earlier. The second day, we were alongside the ocean but more in the trees and bushes, and were literally bushwacking to walk along the trail. Luckily, this was a shorter hike day, and we finished triumphantly and had a campsite that had planks for our tents, and a beautiful stream to soak our feet in cold, fresh water. We also received a special surprise that night from the Connected in Motion team, and something that had us all emotional, laughing and crying together and was very supportive to us all to keep going when it had been a hard experience together.

Our third day hike was also a bit shorter, but our bodies were weaker and more sore – we carried on through bushes and with ocean views, and we saw whales unexpectedly again! That night, we set up tents in a field of blueberries and shared our last delicious dinner with another cute surprise from CIM. This day of the hike, I had experienced high sugars in the AM, and later I dropped very low on the trail – and my team stuck that out with me a waited until I felt better (as we did when anyone experienced this). I was also just not feeling great most of that day, and the team took care of me and made sure I could rest. Our last campsite had a beautiful river that had multiple small pools and waterfalls that we all relaxed in after we set up camp. It was such a beautiful way to end the last night together. Our last day of the hike, we met a few people along the trail that knew about us as we’d met others at our previous campsites who asked about us as we told them we were 11 T1D women hiking together – we became or felt famou on the trail as we’d meet more people who knew us as we approved the end of our hike in Bay Bulls. This also felt like a testament to what we had done together – it was something incredible and people knew it!

I am incredibly grateful to CIM for providing me with the opportunity to experience this – and for my team and for our guides Amy and Sarah – this is something I would not and could not have done without all of you. CIM’s thoughtful surprises on the trek were so supportive and helpful to morale. Amy and Sarah’s reminders of why we were doing this were also what kept us going and made us emotional along the trail. From Amy, “It is going to be hard, and it might be on of the hardest thing you can do – but it is what you are doing it for that is important – there is someone out there who thinks that they cannot do this becaue they have diabetes, or they don’t know that they can do things like this – and so doing this is going to change people’s lives.” and Sarah, “This IS really really hard, but You do hard things everyday living with Type 1 diabetes – and then adding in doing this with Type 1 diabetes and being celiaic, or also being a mom, or also many other things with type 1 diabetes and we don’t even think about it anymore, so you are all capable of doing this hard thing right now.” – and we were, and we did it, together.

Some words that Nicole had shared really affected me, and I’ll end by phrasing what she said, for myself, “I am doing this and I did this, for the 6-year-old Victoria, who was diagnosed with T1 diabetes and needed the emotional and mental support that groups like CIM can bring to living with diabetes. The 6-year-old Victoria, who may not have thought that a trek like this was possible, and who was scared to put herself out there and claim diabetes as something that she identified with and had. I did it for those who thought it wasn’t possible, and for me, who now has accomplished it.” – Thank you, Nicole, for putting words to something I felt.

TODAY also marked some exciting news for me! I just started working with Connected in Motion as their Program Manager (my info will be up there soon!). So I will be supporting programming for T1D adults living in and around Toronto for the next 3 years! I am so stoked! Thank you again for the amazing support – and stay tuned for more news from me on the blog link I shared!

Victoria