Oplotnica - Dom na Osankarici (via Sveti Trije Kralji)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Maribor highway, take the Slovenske Konjice exit, then follow the signs for Slovenske Konjice. From the roundabout at the OMV gas station, turn right onto the first exit towards Slovenska Bistrica, continue towards Slovenska Bistrica to the left turn-off towards Oplotnica and Osankarica. Turn towards Oplotnica and drive along the road to the center of the settlement, where we park on one of the many parking lots in the settlement.
B) From the Maribor - Ljubljana highway, take the Slovenska Bistrica - south exit, then follow the signs for Slovenske Konjice. Soon after Slovenska Bistrica, turn right towards Oplotnica, then drive to the center of Oplotnica, where we park on one of the many parking lots in the settlement.

Path description:
From the center of the settlement, we head onto the path towards Osankarica, Črno jezero and Three Kings and initially walk along the sidewalk past the Mercator store, the Pohorski bataljon Oplotnica primary school to the Salama pizzeria, where we go left and then immediately right, bypassing the pizzeria on the right side.
The path ahead begins to ascend visibly along a narrower asphalt road that leads us past occasional houses; when we reach the Lačna Gora settlement, a nice view also opens up towards Oplotnica and the surrounding hills.
Higher up, at the cross, the signs for Črno jezero direct us right, past the last house, after which we continue the ascent on a macadam road, from which we soon go left into the forest onto a marked footpath. Through the forest we ascend more steeply, a little higher we cross the macadam road that we left shortly before, then in a moderate ascent we arrive at the church of St. Mohor and Fortunat.
At the church we return to the road along which we continue north. The road quickly turns into a cart track that first leads through the forest, then across a panoramic grassy section, where we temporarily descend a little.
When we reach the asphalt road in Kebelj village, we cross it diagonally to the right, then go left towards Črno jezero, bypassing the nearby house on the right side. This is followed by a few minutes of panoramic ascent across the grassy slope; when we step onto the end of the asphalt road for a few steps, a path joins from the right with its starting point at the cemetery in Kebelj village.
We continue straight along the marked cart track, which turns right before entering the forest and continues along the edge of the forest; from this cart track the blazes direct us left onto a narrower cart track that continues through the forest. Through the forest we follow the blazes; when the path turns slightly right, after a short crossing another path from the Kebelj settlement joins from the right.
Here we go left and quickly arrive at the ruins of Kebeljski or Zajčev Castle.
We bypass the ruins on the left side and follow the blazes to the nearby asphalt road, where we go straight uphill. A little further ahead, the asphalt road we are on turns right, while a path towards Osankarica branches left (Kebeljska transverzala path). We leave the asphalt road a little further on, where the signs for Črno jezero direct us left into the forest. This is followed by a short ascent through the forest, then past numerous pieces of trash we reach the nearby homestead (from the opposite direction there is also a warning for a dangerous dog). At the homestead the road becomes asphalt and we quickly return to a somewhat wider asphalt road, along which we continue the ascent. After a few minutes the blazes direct us left onto a grassy cart track, along which we ascend along the edge of the forest; higher up, past the house, we step back onto the asphalt road that takes us to the next marked junction.
We continue right towards Three Kings and Črno jezero (left Črno jezero - path past Kos) and along the road to the junction near the NOB monument.
From the junction we go right towards the access road; at the dead-end sign we go left onto the marked footpath that continues through the forest. This is followed by about 20 minutes of ascent through the forest, following the blazes, then we reach a road that we follow for some 10 steps to the right, arriving at Hotel Jakec, above which is the church of St. Three Kings.
From the church of St. Three Kings we continue towards Črno jezero and Urškina pot and quickly reach the nearby ski slope, along which we continue briefly, then cross it (during ski slope operation, cross the ski run and lift higher - above the cableway and ski slope). The path ahead leads past the ARSO weather station, we continue following the blazes; along the connecting ski run in a few minutes we reach another ski run, which we also cross (along the ski slope uphill Veliki vrh). This is followed by crossing a lift and another ski run, then the path enters the forest, where after a few minutes of further walking we arrive at a cross with an educational board for Urškina pot. The path ahead descends slowly and takes us to a marked junction, where we take the left path (straight Šumik and Ruška koča), continuing towards Osankarica and Črno jezero. We also continue descending gently to moderately and follow the blazes. When the descent ends we arrive at a junction near Črno jezero.
We continue straight (left Oplotnica - path past Kos) and in a few steps reach the lake.
We follow the path ahead towards Osankarica, bypassing the lake on the right side; after crossing the stream the path enters the forest and continues along a wood-paved path. The path initially continues without major elevation changes, but after some time begins to descend visibly. We follow the paved path, which is slippery when wet, all the way to the parking lot near Dom na Osankarici. From the parking lot we cross the road and ascend to Dom na Osankarici, which burned down in 2021.
Oplotnica - sv. Mohor 0:45, sv. Mohor - Zajčev grad 0:40, Zajčev grad - sv. Trije Kralji 1:20, sv. Trije Kralji - Črno jezero 0:50, Črno jezero - Osankarica 0:15.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in April 2022.

On the way: Lačna Gora (516m), Sveti Mohor (Lačna Gora) (602m), Kebelj castle (Castle Zajec) (813m), Nadgrad (851m), Sveti Trije kralji (1181m), Črno jezero on Pohorje (1196m)