Jesenica - Otavnik

Access to starting point:
A) First, we drive to the center of Cerkno (to here from the road Idrija - Most na Soči, or from Gorenja vas and Žiri over mountain pass Kladje, or from Zali Log through Davča...), and then we continue driving in the direction of Zakojca. Only few meters behind that, when we went in the direction of Zakojca, the road towards the village Zakriž branches off to the left, through which leads steep shortcut, and we continue on the road which continues along the stream Zapoška. Higher, the road leads through villages Trebenče, Gorje, and then after crossing of slopes, on the upper side we bypass village Zakriž, where joins already mentioned shortcut. A little further, the road turns more to the right, and after few kilometers of crossing we get to the beginning of the village Jesenica, where we notice the first signs for saddle Vrh Ravni, Kojca and Porezen, which point right, and we continue left towards the main part of the village, where we park on an appropriate place by the recycling spot. At the starting point, there is also a bus stop and memorial plaque.
B) From Most na Soči or Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Idrija, and after the settlement Reka, right before we cross the stream Jesenica we continue sharply left, and at the next crossroad sharply right in the direction of Orehovška grapa. After few kilometers of relatively steep road we get to the village Orehek, little above the village we join diagonal road below Kojca, which we follow to the right. When we get to the village Jesenica, we park on an appropriate place by the recycling spot. At the starting point, there is also a bus stop and memorial plaque.
C) From Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Podbrdo or vice versa, and then in the settlement Grahovo ob Bači we turn in the direction of Zakojca and Bukovo. Further for quite some time, we drive on winding and ascending road, and then at the marked crossroad we continue right in the direction of Cerkno (left Zakojca). Next follows crossing of Kojca, after we get to the village Jesenica, we park on an appropriate place by the recycling spot. At the starting point, there is also a bus stop and memorial plaque.

Path description:
Few strides southeast from the starting point, we notice signs for Kojca and Porezen, which point us to the left on an asphalt road which starts ascending steeply through the village. With a view on Kojca we are ascending past few houses, and then the asphalt ends, and the path leads us past individual houses. Behind the last house the road changes into a cart track, on which in few minutes of additional walking, we ascend on a saddle Vrh Ravni, where there is a crossing of numerous paths.
From the saddle Vrh Ravni we continue right in the direction of Porezen and mountain pasture Otavnik (sharply left Košena, left Kojca, slightly left Čemažar, straight Zakojca, slightly right Podčrnovrhar and sharply right driving road towards Jesenica) and we continue on an ascending macadam road which further leads on slopes of the peak Na krogu (1050 meters). Higher, the road passes on the northern slopes of Ritovščica (1156 meters), where at smaller quarry changes into a wide cart track. Next follows a diagonal ascent through the forest, which leads us above the riverbed Otavnik, and then we step out of the forest, where in front of us we notice a hunting cottage, to which we ascend in two hairpin turns.
From the hunting cottage, we continue on a cart track which ascends on the south ridge of Otavnik. Mentioned, partly covered with a forest ridge we soon leave because the path turns slightly to the left, where it is then ascending diagonally through more and more panoramic pasture. After few minutes of a diagonal ascent, we get to the upper part of the mountain pasture Otavnik, where on the left we notice a hunting observatory, and straight on the other side of the ridge a shepherd hut.
On the mountain pasture, at the signposts we continue right on pathless terrain, on which in approximately 5 minutes we ascend to the summit of Otavnik.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in the year 2015 (December).

On the way: Preval Vrh Ravni (826m), Lovska koča LD Otavnik (1090m), Planina Otavnik (1268m)