Couldn't have been more off there. After a rest day, complete with some (more) unsuccessful ice fishing on Willow Lake two days ago, Dave and I decided to get an early start yesterday morning in order to make the final 18-mile push to Wasagamack--the first village stop on our trip--and bring to an end the first (and longest) segment of our journey .

By now the human equivalent of a well-oiled hamster wheel, we got up at 6 a.m., ate breakfast (Poptarts and oatmeal), packed up camp, and were ready to hit the trail by 8 a.m. The sled was packed, the skis were on, and literally with 10 seconds until departure, our two wheel dogs (the ones closest to the sled), Thistle and Lichen, decided to have themselves a bit of a brawl.

In the process of trying to separate the two animals, Dave grabbed Thistle, and I, still on my skis, positioned myself behind Lichen (who, as some of you know, is a 120-pound beast of a dog) to try to pry him away from his assailant turned victim. I wrapped my hands around Lichen's neck from above him and unfortunately (for me), at that exact moment, Thistle broke free from Lichen's jaws and, in a fraction of a second, chomped hard on Lichen's neck, and in the process, my right hand.

I should probably put a disclaimer here and state that this incident was, without question, totally accidental. And, although our dogs shouldn't fight, they do so not with the intention to hurt each other but to establish dominance within their social structure. This is a normal part of life in the pack. They don't really intend to hurt each other, and they certainly would never intentionally harm me or any other person.

The upshot of all this is we didn't end up leaving our camp until 9:30 a.m., after I'd tended to my hand and Dave had reorganized all the dogs after the melee. None of this made a difference as far as our travel plans were concerned, as fast snow conditions helped us reach Wasagamack by 3:30 p.m.

We pulled our dog team up to the school just as class was dismissed. After giving some sled rides to some interested young students, we proceed to the TV station (known locally as the Teepee Station) for what was to become, unbeknownst to us, the Wilderness Classroom Organization's first live television call-in talk show. We fielded over 50 phone calls from community members ranging from what we feed our dogs to Dave's availability for dates.

Finally, after politely declining to do an hour-long show on the local radio station, we made our way to the Education Authority building , where we would put up for the night. After feeding the puppies, Dave and I collapsed on to our shared floor for a good night's rest. We both slept well after I opened the window and brought the room temperature down to a cozy 40 degrees or so. Just where we like it.

Never a dull one--not in this Boreal Forest.

- Adam

Our next chat will be from 1 - 2 p.m. CST on Monday, Feb. 23.