Osilnica - 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, after that on 19 zig-zags and some additional kilometers of driving brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower also in Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
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, after that on 19 zig-zags and some additional kilometers of driving brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower also in Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
C) From the border crossing Petrina we continue on the road in the direction of Osilnica. Further, we drive through the settlement Grivac, Gladloka, Kuželj, Srobotnik ob Kolpi, Mirtoviči, Bosljiva Loka, Grintovec pri Osilnici, Ložec and Ribjek to Osilnica, where in the middle of the settlement near the Mercator store we park.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue on the road which leads further towards Petrina and runs by the river Kolpa. When Osilnica ends, the path leads past few more houses, which belong to Osilnica. Behind the house with house number Osilnica 1, by the bridge we cross a smaller stream and then right behind the bridge we continue left on a marked footpath, where after few steps we notice the first blazes. We continue on a cart track which is gently to moderately ascending through the forest, and at some crossings we follow it in the direction of the blazes. Higher the forest ends and the path past the hunting observatory brings us to the settlement Križmani, where the path leads among some houses.
Behind the houses, we cross the asphalt road, and then we ascend straight upwards, where the path leads through a smaller orchard. A little further, where meadow becomes more overgrown, the path turns right and passes into the forest. Few minutes we are ascending through the forest, after that over partly overgrown meadow we ascend to the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which we only cross. We continue past the storage of logs, and then through a short lane of a forest, we reach local road which leads towards the settlement Bezgovica. 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.
Osilnica - Bezgarska planina 2:10, 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: Križmani (455m), Bezgovica (565m), Bezgarska planina (895m), Firstov rep (1002m)