Sviščaki - Snežnik (variant through forest)

Access to starting point:
On the regional road from Ilirska Bistrica to Sviščaki (19 km), 11 km of road is asphalted.

Route description:
We can leave the car both on a large parking lot 100 meters before the mountain hut (in the winter the only variant), and in front of the mountain hut. From the large parking lot, we follow the forest road on the right side of Sviščaki until we get to the blazes, which for some time lead us through Mali Sviščaki (upper part of Sviščaki), and from in front of the mountain hut just follow the blazes (signpost). The path first leads through the weekend settlement Sviščaki (almost 100 cottages). When we leave Sviščaki, we first walk on a mountain path through the beech forest about 500 m to a forest road, which we leave after 300 m (chapel of St. Gabriel) and continue (marked!) to the right on a forest track (path for towing logs with a tractor). Look only for Knafelc blazes (red circle with white dot), also E-6 blazes (red circle with yellow dot) and blazes of couriers and signalmen (blue circle with yellow dot), because in this area the forests are heavily painted with forestry signs - red lines, which strongly resemble blaze lines, which indicate the direction. Along the track we slowly ascend through the beech forest, we cross Lomsko forest road (signpost) and continue to the junction with Snežniška forest road (signpost, locals call the place Pri kapetanovi bajti, but the hut has long been gone here). Here is a wider road plateau, where we can continue on the road, or 50 m on a marked shortcut, where we join the road again. We continue following the blazes and ascend to the end of the steep forest road (Obračališče), where there is a viewpoint towards the west. To here we needed 1h 15min, and there follows 45min more of ascent on a mountain path through dwarf pines. The path becomes a little steeper only 300 length meters below the very top, the last 100 m towards the right (direction S), steepness decreases and slightly ascending we reach the Koča Draga Karolina. This is also the peak, because the ridge of the hut is in the same height as the summit point of Snežnik. I should also mention that in winter two places on the path are especially exposed to bora or southwest wind, namely Obračališče, and the edge on the ridge 100 m before the peak, where the steepness decreases.

Along the route: Sviščaki (1242m), Kapelica sv. Gabrijel (1300m), Križanje pl. poti in Lomske ceste (1360m), Pri kapetanovi bajti (1460m), Obračališče (1564m), Veliki Snežnik (1796m)

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