Plaz Črlovec - Vrtaški vrh (upper path)
Starting point: Plaz Črlovec (920 m)
Starting point Lat/Lon: 46.4311°N 13.8784°E
Path name: upper path
Time of walking: 3 h 50 min
Difficulty: partly demanding unmarked way, easy marked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 978 m
Altitude difference (by path): 1055 m
Map: TNP 1:50.000
Access to starting point:
We drive to Mojstrana, and then we follow the signs for valley Vrata. On the road through the valley Vrata we drive to the road sign 8 km or few 10 meters ahead to gulley Plaz Črlovec, where there is the beginning of the described path. Parking in the area of TNP is allowed only on a marked parking spots.
Path description:
From gulley Plaz Črlovec we return on the road few 10 meters back, and then we continue on a side road which continues towards the northeast. The path ahead leads us past a gate, and after the gate unmarked path branches off to the left, which leads towards Kukova špica and Njivice. We continue on the mentioned path (straight mountain pasture Planina Višek and Vrtaška planina on the bottom path) and we start ascending on the right side of the gulley Veliki Črlovec. A little higher from the left joins the path which leads over gulley (beginning is by the gulley Plaz Črlovec, from the road which leads towards the mountain hut Aljažev dom v Vratih, or there where there is the starting point), and we further follow best beaten path, because there is quite a few crossings, mainly shortcuts or longer turns of the path. Higher, the path passes on a ridge, which was formed between Veliki and Mali Črlovec, for some time panoramic path returns into the forest, through which is ascending in few hairpin turns. Still in the forest, at an altitude of approximately 1500 meters we get to a crossing, where we continue right (left, where on a tree we notice a caption "KUK", Kukova špica).
From the crossing, we are few minutes ascending through the forest, after that the path is turnning more and more to the right and it quickly brings us to gulley Mali Črlovec, where we cross few gullies. On steep parts more caution is needed, a little clumsy is also passage from last, biggest gully of Mali Črlovec. Next follows an ascent through a lane of dwarf pines, where the path because of landslide makes a smaller "detour". In front of us is shorter traverse and we get to a crossing, where we continue left on the upper path (straight middle path which leads on Vrtaška planina).
Further, we are mostly ascending diagonally towards the right, and the path occasionally makes also some zig zag. Higher, we few times cross scree, and then the path for some time stops ascending, and continues with some shorter ascents and descents. After a long crossing, where the footpath is all the time relatively easy to follow, the footpath starts vanishing. We continue a little towards the left and over a grazing fence we reach the bottom edge of Njivice, where we also notice a sign PP (path Planica - Pokljuka), and few 10 strides ahead we step on a marked path.
On marked path we continue slightly left (right Vrtaška planina) and on a pleasant small valley we ascend to a marked crossing on Njivice.
From the crossing, we continue right in the direction of Vrtaški vrh (straight Sleme), where the footpath over a grassy slope at first isn't very easy to follow, but when we get into a lane of dwarf pines, it isn't hard to follow the anymore. Few minutes we are ascending through dwarf pines, after that on an unmarked crossing we continue left and in few minutes of additional walking, we ascend on Vrtaški vrh.
The starting point - crossing for Kukova špica 1:50, crossing for Kukova špica - Njivice 1:40, Njivice - Vrtaški vrh 0:20.
Description refers to condition in the year 2018 (August), and pictures are from various periods.
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