Bezgovica - Loška stena

Access to starting point:
A) First, we drive to Ribnica, and then we continue driving towards Kočevje. After Dolenja vas we continue right in the direction of Grčarice, Gotenica and Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue right in the direction of Borovca pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we once again continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude 993 meters. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, and after 19 zig-zags brings us to the settlement Zgornji Čačič, and few 100 meters ahead also to the turn-off of the road in the village Bezgovica. We park on an appropriate place by the crossroad.
B) From Kočevje we drive towards the border crossing Petrina, and then at the end of the settlement Štalcerji we continue right towards Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue left in the direction of Borovec pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude 993 meters. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, and after 19 zig-zags brings us to the settlement Zgornji Čačič, and few 100 meters ahead also to the turn-off of the road in the village Bezgovica. We park on an appropriate place by the crossroad.
C) From Osilnica or Sela pri Osilnici we continue in the direction settlements Žurge, Padovo pri Osilnici, Zgornji Čačič and mountain pass Strma Reber. Before we get to 1st or 19th zig zag road which leads towards the settlement Bezgovica branches off to the left. We park on an appropriate place by the crossroad.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue in the direction of village Bezgovica, which we quickly reach. When we reach the mentioned village, at the smaller crossroad we continue slightly right, and then with nice views on Sveta Gora and Gorski Kotar we get to the upper part of the village, where among houses we follow the blazes. Behind the last house, we notice hiking signposts, which point us uphill, on the path which passes into the forest, through which it gradually starts ascending steeper. After a short ascent from the right joins also the path from 18th hairpin turn of road on Strma Reber, and we continue straight on more steep path, which higher in a diagonal ascent brings us to steep small valley, through which we continue the ascent. Higher blazes from rough small valley lead left on the path which passes to the edge of occasionally precipitous ridge. We continue the ascent on occasionally a little more overgrown path, which avoids precipices a little to the right, and occasionally some view opens up on surrounding hills. Few minutes higher we reach a wide cart track which we follow to the left, we walk there to the spot, where it splits into two parts.
We continue on a slightly left cart track (right cart track bypasses Bezgarska planina and leads towards the mountain pass Strma Reber), which quickly leads out of the forest on the bottom part of the mountain pasture Bezgarska planina. When we reach the mountain pasture through a meadow in a minute or two, we walk to bigger hunting observatory.
From the hunting observatory, where there is a marked crossing, we continue right in the direction of Cerk and Firstov rep (straight Taborska stena, Dragarji...), on the path which descends to a smaller garden in the middle of the mountain pasture. When the path passes into the forest, on crossing of cart tracks we continue straight (here from the right joins the cart track which a little before the mountain pasture from the marked path branches off straight and is about a minute shorter as marked path). Next follows few minutes of ascent through the forest and then we reach the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which we carefully cross.
On the other side of the road, we continue in the direction of Cerk and Firstov rep and we continue on the forest road. The path ahead leads us on the forest road, from which already after few minutes marked path branches off to the right.
We continue on a marked path (possible is also to continue on an unmarked road, because marked path after a time returns on the mentioned road, the path on the road is also a little shorter), which passes into a dense forest. Through the forest at first we start moderately ascending, and in doing so, we carefully follow the blazes, because the path is otherwise relatively easy to follow but poorly beaten. When the path a little higher flattens, on the left side we bypass indistinct peak Luknja (1079 meters), to which we can on easier pathless terrain ascend in few minutes, otherwise we continue on a marked path, which as said peak bypasses on the left side. Next follows few shorter ascents and descents, after that follows a little longer descent, which ends when we reach the macadam road.
When we reach the road, we continue right (left marked path on Cerk and the road on which we can return to the starting point) in the direction of Firstov rep. On the road, we are slightly to moderately ascending, and there we walk to its end or turning point.
On the left side of turning point we notice signs for Firstov rep and first time also for Loška stena, which point us on a cart track which starts gradually descending. When after few minutes the cart track ends, on the left we notice a salt lick for wild animals, and we continue straight downwards, on a marked footpath, on which in few steps we get to the inscription box on Firstov rep.
From the inscription box, we continue the descent on a marked path in the direction of Loška stena. Quite scenic path, from which beautiful views opening up on the nearby walls, towers and hills, leads us by the edge of the cliffs, which the path avoids on the right side, so that there isn't any bigger danger of slipping, except of course, if we go on the edge for a nice view. A little lower path passes into the forest and flattens. Next follows a short ascent, and then an easy descent to a precipitous edge of the peak of Loška stena, from where a really nice view opens through a valley Zgornja Kolpska dolina and surrounding hills.
Bezgovica - Bezgarska planina 1:00, Bezgarska planina - Firstov rep 1:15, Firstov rep - Loška stena 25 minutes.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in the year 2015 (August).

On the way: Bezgovica (565m), Bezgarska planina (895m), Firstov rep (1002m)