And here is our lone wildlife encounter: this nonchalant grouse, strolling ahead of us along the way.

By this time it was starting to get dark in the forest -- not a good idea to stick around, of course, so we headed back.
(When taking the camera along on a venture, it is sometimes easy to overlook the smaller things in favor of the larger scenery.)
Four miles of hiking in the higher elevations really brought to attention how out-of-shape I really was. (Driving in a car for days really didn't help that situation at all, either) ...My knees hurt, my lungs were bursting, I could barely catch my breath and I was thoroughly exhausted. I was ready to call it a night! We arrived at the head of the trail just in time to see the sunset reflected off the mountains of Bowman Lake.
On the ride back to the village, Ingrid entertained us with a cassette tape of patriotic Estonian music. She was quite proud of her heritage and so we got sort of an education in Estonian culture that day.

Then I said goodbye to my friends as they headed back to Whitefish. I stayed behind at the hostel -- quite glad to crash for the night.