Consider this: on last year's Bimaadagaako Adventure, a dogsledding trip Dave and Frosty did at this time last year at roughly the same latitude as this adventure, the temperature never rose above zero degrees F for the first six weeks.

For the past week here in the Boreal Forest, the temperature has rarely dipped below 20 degrees F, and has often reached 40 degrees F during the afternoon hours--temperatures unheard of in these parts in February.

You may think we winter campers all suffer from some cold weather fetish and like pain. This is true. But there are plenty of other reasons this warm weather is a big headache.

Most notably, when the temperature is between 30 and 40 degrees F, everything is wet and slushy and sweaty. Our clothes, our sleeping bags, our computer--everything. In colder conditions, the snow is dry, and whatever drying of clothes is necessary goes quickly because the air is dry as well.

Also, because we only have one stove, which we use for both heating the tent and cooking our food, other problems arise in this warm weather. In the process of boiling water for our Mac 'n' Cheese dinner, the tent turns into a sauna, making us all sweat more into our already thoroughly sweaty longjohns.

Our dogs sweat, too. Their ancestors are from Greenland, and they become slow and sluggish working in the warmer weather.

Finally, our travel over lakes and rivers is very much dependent on good, thick ice. Even during a cold spell, unseen bogs, springs and currents can deteriorate the ice and make it thin. When these factors are compounded by warm weather like we're having now, even normally "safe" stretches of ice can be suspect.

Besides, if this keeps up much longer, Dave might have to shave off his beard. Cold weather, c'mon back!