Planina Polog - Vrh nad Peski (via planina Sleme)
Starting point: Planina Polog (457 m)
Starting point Lat/Lon: 46.2373°N 13.7223°E
Path name: via planina Sleme
Time of walking: 5 h 45 min
Difficulty: easy unmarked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 1719 m
Altitude difference (by path): 1800 m
Map: Julijske Alpe - zahodni del 1:50.000
Access to starting point:
First, we drive to Tolmin, from there we follow the road in the direction of Zatolmin (main road we leave at the traffic light). In Zatolmin we notice signposts for Javorca, which point us on an ascending road towards Javorca. Occasionally quite narrow and in parts precipitous road after approximately 8 km of driving brings us to a smaller crossroad, where the road towards Javorca branches off to the left upwards. Here we turn left and we follow the road for good 100 meters to a marked parking lot.
Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on a concrete road which quickly comes in the forest and starts ascending steeply. After approximately 15 minutes of walking, forest gets thinner, and the road turns sharply to the right. Next follows only few minutes of walking by the edge of pastures and the road brings us to the memorial church of the Holy Spirit on Javorca.
Church we bypass on the left side and we continue on a wide and at first gentle cart track which quickly passes into the forest. Here we can left below us hear roaring of waterfall of the stream Peščak, and we continue on a marked path (cart track), which higher over a bridge crosses the mentioned stream. Further, we are ascending on a moderately steep cart track which ahead runs partly through the forest, and partly through dense bushes and bramble. Higher, we cross one more of numerous grazing fences and the path brings us to the mountain pasture Črča, on which stands few old cottages.
And just before the cottages on the mountain pasture, signs for mountain pastures Sleme, Medrje and Laška seč, point us slightly to the left, where over high grass we ascend to an indistinct ridge, on which runs grazing fence. Further, we are ascending by the grazing fence, and then the path passes into a dense forest, where for a short time steeply ascends to a trough with water. Here the path turns slightly to the right, where after few 10 strides it brings us to the next grazing fence. We cross a grazing fence and we walk to cottages on the mountain pasture Laška seč.
Above the mountain pasture path goes into the forest, and it continues on a wide cart track. A little higher we come out of the forest, and only few meters after we cross a grazing fence we continue left on a poorly visible and poorly marked path. The path higher joins the cart track and only few meters ahead brings us to shepherd cottages on the mountain pasture Medrja.
From cottages on the mountain pasture we diagonally ascend towards the left, where we quickly reach a bad forest road. We follow the road to the left, and after the initial gentle ascent, it gradually starts lightly descending. Higher, we get very close to the mountain pasture Pretovč, and at the crossroad at the eponymous saddle we continue right in the direction of the mountain pasture Sleme. The road ahead starts ascending steeper, higher crosses a lane of a dense forest and then it flattens and with increasingly beautiful views brings us to the mountain pasture Sleme.
On the mountain pasture at the monument NOB we continue left on a panoramic grassy ridge, on which we walk to the former crossing. Here signs for Krn and Rdeči rob point us to the left on the lower path (upper path is because of impassibility closed for a long time), which crosses slopes towards the left. The path ahead quickly brings us to steep and wide gully, over which leads very well-settled path (if path is damaged then the passage is deadly dangerous). The path ahead passes on grassy slopes, crosses another smaller gully, over which the path is also well-settled. After that, the path passes into a lane of a forest, where still crosses relatively steep slopes. The slope then flattens, and the path over a grazing fence brings us on a grazing area of the mountain pasture Leskovica, where the marked path starts vanishing. We diagonally descend a little towards the right, where we catch path from the mountain pasture Kuhinja towards the lake Jezero v Lužnici.
We continue in the direction of Krn and we continue steep upwards. Further, we are ascending on steep slopes between Maselnik (1906 meters) on the left and Veliki Stador (1903 meters) on the right. Higher, the path breaks and brings us into a smaller cirque, where the unmarked path on Rdeči rob branches off to the right (turn-off is marked). The marked path here turns to the left and it ascends over a short steep slope, and then it flattens and brings us on a small saddle between Maselnik and Škofič. Here we continue straight and then on the bottom path (right upper path bypasses the lake), in few minutes of descent we get to the lake Jezero v Lužnici, which we already see from the before mentioned saddle.
From the lake, we gently ascend on a poorly visible footpath (direction north), and then we join the path which on the right side bypasses the lake. Further, we are ascending on a nice high mountain valley (Peski po Lužnici), and then the path turns a little to the left and it ascends steeper. Next a short steep ascent follows and the path brings us on a ridge north from Srednji vrh. Here the path turns to the right and in few minutes brings us on Prag (2068 meters).
On the saddle Prag, where there is a marked crossing, we continue right in the direction of the mountain hut on the mountain pasture Razor (left Batognica and Krn, straight downwards lake Krnsko jezero) on the path which crosses slopes of Vrh nad Peski. After approximately 10 minutes of crossing the scree below Vrh nad Peski, we will come to a smaller crossing, where we continue left in the direction of "V. Peski". The path ahead in few minutes ascends on a smaller grassy saddle, and then continues on the more and more panoramic and occasionally also quite steep path. This panoramic and relatively steep path, we then follow all the way to the top of Vrh nad Peski, and we reach it after few minutes of additional walking.
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