Preddvor - Planinska koča pri Franciju (Juhantova pot)

Access to starting point:
A) From highway Ljubljana - Jesenice we go to the exit Kranj - east, and then we continue driving in the direction of Jezersko. When we get to Preddvor we leave the main road and we continue left and then immediately after the small bridge over Bistrica we park on a parking lot on the left side of the road. The parking lot is located on outer side of complex Jelovica.
B) From highway Jesenice - Ljubljana we go to the exit Kranj - zahod and at the first crossroad, we continue left. Further, we drive through the underpass below the highway, and then we get to a roundabout, from where we continue driving in the direction of Golnik. The path ahead leads us through the settlement Mlaka pri Kranju, and at the end of the settlement, we continue right in the direction of the settlement Srakovlje. Next follows driving through Srakovlje, Spodnja Bela, Srednja Bela to Zgornja Bela, where we continue right towards Preddvor. At the end of the Preddvor, only few 10 meters before the road joins the main road Zgornje Jezersko - Kranj, we will by complex of Jelovica notice a larger macadam parking lot, where we park.

Path description:
From the parking lot at first we carefully cross the road, and then we continue on a narrower asphalt road in the direction of village Potoče and Hrib, lake Črnava, Hotel Bor and castle Hrib and St. Jakob and Potoška gora. Immediately after we cross the road we leave Preddvor and over a small bridge we step into village Hrib, through which the road starts at first gently, and then moderately ascending. When the settlement ends on the right soon a nice view opens up towards Storžič, Cjanovca, Hudičev boršt, St. Jakob and also towards the hill Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske. A little further, the road flattens and it brings us to a crossroad, where we continue straight in the direction of Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske, Novi grad (Pusti grad)), St. Jakob and Potoška gora (left lake Črnava, Hotel Bor, castle Hrib, right Senior citizens home Preddvor) and we continue on an ascending asphalt road. A little higher, at the chapel from the left joins the path from the center of Preddvor, and we continue right, where past few houses we get to the fence of Senior citizens home Preddvor. Here the road turns left and leads among others also to the nearby parking lot, and we continue on a footpath which goes by the fence.
A well-marked path, which we follow in the direction of Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske brings us into the forest, through which it starts ascending steeper. Through the forest, we are few minutes relatively steeply ascending, and then the path flattens and it brings us to Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske, where there is also an inscription box with an inscription book.
From the top follows a short descent on a forest path, and then we reach the forest road which we follow to the left, and there we are for a short time lightly descending. We soon reach the other wider road (road which leads from the parking lot near the Senior citizens home Preddvor and which bypasses Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske), which we cross slightly towards the left, where by the entrance into the forest, we notice red hiking signposts (to here possible also on the before mentioned road).
We continue in the direction of ruins of the castle Novi grad (Pusti grad) and footpath towards St. Jakob and Potoška gora. The path ahead is moderately ascending through a forested valley, and then splits into two parts.
We choose the left path, named Juhantova pot, which leads towards St. Jakob (slightly right normal marked path towards St. Jakob, Potoška gora, Javorov vrh...), and which already after a minute or two again splits.
To the left continues a marked path towards Novi grad, and we continue straight on a marked, but further unmarked path. The path ahead is for some time still ascending through the forest, and in doing so it crosses few cart tracks, higher also a macadam road. Next follows few minutes of quite steep ascent, and then past a smaller wooden religious symbol we reach a wider cart track which we follow to the left. From the spot, when we reach the cart track, to the mountain hut Planinska koča pri Franciju separates only about a minute of walking.

On the way: Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske (570m)

Trip can be extended to: Planinska koča Iskra na Jakobu