Bučan - Hajnžev Praprotnik / Zeller Prapotnik

Access to starting point:
From highway Ljubljana - Jesenice we go to the exit Ljubelj (Tržič), and then we continue driving in the direction of Celovec / Klagenfurt. After Ljubelj tunnel the road starts descending, and on the Austrian side we follow it to the first left turn, where old Ljubelj road branches off to the right. We park on an appropriate place by the crossroad, or we can also park higher on the Austrian side of the border crossing Ljubelj.

Path description:
From the starting point, we go on the old Ljubelj road which is with a traffic sign closed for public traffic. The road at first moderately ascends over two zig-zags, and then continues along the stream to the ruins of former church of St. Lenart, by which stands a little bigger religious symbol. Here the road turns to the left and gradually goes away from the valley. From the road then nice views start opening on Palec and other surrounding peaks. The road ahead leads past a smaller crossroad, where we continue sharply right on "main" road, and then in a moderate ascent we cross steep slopes (danger of falling stones, or in the winter time avalanche and slipping). Higher, the road makes few hairpin turns, and then it brings us to the marked crossing.
From the crossing, we continue left in the direction of a marked path on Košutica / Loibler Baba (straight mountain hut Koča na Ljubelju a little less than 10 minutes) and we continue on a bad road. The marked path from the road soon turns right upward and at first steeply ascends. The path soon flattens and it turns left. Next follows a diagonal ascent towards the left, on the path which is usually quite slippery. After few minutes of a diagonal ascent, the path brings us on the border ridge, where it is at first gently to moderately ascending, and higher is for some time quite steeply ascending. During the steep ascent when we look back a nice view opens up towards Stol, Vrtača, Palec..., and steep path brings us to metal ladder, where with the help of fixed safety gear we steeply ascend. Above the ladder follows few more steel cables, and then the path flattens and demanding part of over Rjave peči is behind us. A little further, we cross a grazing fence, and then the path leads us on grassy slopes of Grunt. With nice views on Lokovnikov Grintovec, Košutica (Ljubeljska Baba), Veliki vrh in the ridge of Košuta and other surrounding mountains, we soon get to a marked crossing, where we continue slightly left in the direction of Hajnžev graben and mountain hut Koča pod Košuto (straight - Košutica, right - mountain pasture Korošica.
From the crossing, the path at first descends a little and then turns right and crosses slopes of Košutica towards the left. At first, we are descending a little and then the path after an interesting cliff starts ascending diagonally. After few minutes of a diagonal ascent, with nice views on surrounding mountains, we quickly reach the saddle Dovjakovo sedlo, where we once again cross a grazing fence.
At the grazing fence the path branches off to the left on Lokovnikov Grintovec, and slightly left we look for the further marked path, which diagonally descends on the other side of Lokovnikov Grintovec. After few minutes of diagonal descent, the path brings us on an indistinct ridge, on which we continue a descent to an indistinct saddle between Lokovnikov Grintovec and Hajnžev Praprotnik.
On the mentioned saddle an indistinct marked path turns right downwards towards Hajnžev graben, and we continue left over a grazing fence, and then we lightly descending towards the northeast. On this part the footpath entirely vanishes, and we continue on gentle terrain to the cairn, after which on the slope a worse footpath appears (if we continue here left downwards we get to Lokovnikova planina, and if we stick to the right, by the ridge, we get interrupted by dwarf pines).
Further it is very good to stick to a poorly footpath, because through steep part it leads without any bigger problems. Above the steep slopes, the path passes among dwarf pines, and occasionally it is still steeply ascending. Higher, we reach the ridge of Hajnžev Praprotnik, and the path for some time continues through occasionally quite overgrown dwarf pines. Despite occasional greater overgrowth, the footpath through dwarf pines is quite easy to follow.
On the ridge, the path flattens, and to the main peak separates us few more shorter ascents and descents. Before the ascent to the summit, the dwarf pines end, and we at first steeply ascend on the ridge, on which then in few 10 strides we reach the panoramic peak.
The starting point - Dovjakovo sedlo 2:25, Dovjakovo sedlo - Hajnžev Praprotnik 55 minutes.

On the way: Dovjakovo sedlo / Dovjaksattel (1728m)