Crngrob - Sveti Križ (Križna Gora)

Access to starting point:
A) From Ljubljana, we drive to Medvode, and from there we continue driving towards Škofja Loka. When we get to Škofja Loka, we don't drive into the center, but we continue "straight" in the direction of Kranj. In the settlement Dorfarje we notice signs for Crngrob, which point us to the left, on the road which further leads through the mentioned village. First, we drive past the furniture salon Prevc, then past the turn-off towards the farm pri Brojanu, and further also past the tree nurseries Cegnar and Zakotnik, and then the quite narrow road which runs through the village widens a little. After the village there follows a short descent and the path leads us past a larger parking lot, which is situated by the shooting range of the Slovenian army. After the parking lot we cross the stream Ušovca, and the road passes into the forest and starts moderately ascending. Following the asphalt road, we then quickly get to the settlement Crngrob, where we park on the well-maintained parking lot in the middle of the village.
B) First, we drive to Kranj, and from there we continue driving towards Škofja Loka. Before we get to Škofja Loka, in the settlement Dorfarje we continue right in the direction of the settlement Crngrob. First, we drive past the furniture salon Prevc, then past the turn-off towards the farm pri Brojanu, and further also past the tree nurseries Cegnar and Zakotnik, and then the quite narrow road which runs through the village widens a little. After the village there follows a short descent and the path leads us past a larger parking lot, which is situated by the shooting range of the Slovenian army. After the parking lot we cross the stream Ušovca, and the road passes into the forest and starts moderately ascending. Following the asphalt road, we then quickly get to the settlement Crngrob, where we park on the well-maintained parking lot in the middle of the village.
C) From Žiri or Cerkno we drive to Škofja Loka, from there we continue left towards Železniki. When we get closer to the area of Škofja Loka named Podlubnik, we will get to a junction, where we continue slightly right in the direction of the settlement Pevno. A little further, we get to the next marked junction, where we again continue right, this time in the direction of the settlements Pevno and Crngrob. There follow a few more junctions, and we further follow the signs for Crngrob. When the road already loses its asphalt surface it passes into the forest and brings us to a smaller junction by an old chapel. Here, the left road leads directly to the church in Crngrob, but there are no arranged parking spaces there, therefore we continue on the right road, along which after a moderate descent in a few hundred meters we get to the well-maintained parking lot in Crngrob.
D) From Železniki we drive to Škofja Loka, and then before the road turns a little to the right and starts descending towards the main bus station, we continue left in the direction of the settlement Pevno. A little further, we get to the next marked junction, where we continue right, this time in the direction of the settlements Pevno and Crngrob. There follow a few more junctions, and we further follow the signs for Crngrob. When the road already loses its asphalt surface it passes into the forest and brings us to a smaller junction by an old chapel. Here, the left road leads directly to the church in Crngrob, but there are no arranged parking spaces there, therefore we continue on the right road, along which after a moderate descent in a few hundred meters we get to the well-maintained parking lot in Crngrob.

Path description:
From the starting point, we first walk to the church, which is situated above the village, and from there we continue on a marked path which starts left from the abandoned building. After a short ascent through a meadow, the path goes into the forest and then after a few minutes joins the cart track, on which we continue. The moderately ascending cart track turns a little to the left and then turns right and temporarily starts descending. The descent ends after a few minutes, and then we start moderately ascending, on the path which a little further leads past a bench a few meters distant. We follow the marked path which for some time continues through the forest and then the forest ends and past the hayrack we reach the macadam road, where from the right an unmarked path from the settlement Dorfarje also joins.
We continue straight, on the road which becomes asphalted and which past the bench and the trough with water brings us to a somewhat larger junction, where we continue left in the direction of Planica (here to the right and straight from the path we will notice the NOB monument). The path ahead leads us on the asphalt road, on which we quickly get to the settlement Planica, where a path branches off to the right, which leads to the top of Planica, where there stands the church of St. Archangel Gabriel, and we continue straight through the village.
Through the village, the path slightly descends, and from the left in the middle of the village a path from the settlement Pevno also joins. We continue in the direction of Križna Gora, on the road which soon leaves the village, and then ascends diagonally across a grassy slope. When the traverse ends we get to some kind of a ridge, where we continue right, and then with nice views we continue past a few more houses. Higher we reach the main ridge, where we continue sharply left on a cart track which starts lightly descending (right on the road the peak of Planica).
The cart track soon descends even steeper, and then brings us out of the forest onto a panoramic grassy slope, from which a nice view opens up on part of Škofjeloško hribovje (view on hills from Lubnik over Stari vrh to Blegoš). Across the panoramic slope the path lightly ascends, and then returns into the forest, through which it again starts descending. Lower, we reach the macadam road, which we follow straight, on it lightly ascending to the nearby bus turnaround. At the NOB monument we again come out of the forest, and then on the asphalt road we descend to a relatively new and well-maintained parking lot, which is situated above the village Križna Gora.
From here there follows still some descent, and then past the turn-off of the path to the settlement Praprotno, we get to a junction in the middle of the village Križna Gora, from where we continue right in the direction of the church and the hunting cottage. We continue on a quite panoramic and at first still asphalt road which gently ascends towards the high-voltage power line. After the power line, the road flattens, or even slightly descends, and then from it to the left a footpath branches off, which leads directly to the church of the Holy Cross.
We continue on the mentioned footpath which runs parallel to the road and on which in a few minutes we get to the already mentioned little church.
From the little church, from where a nice view opens up, we continue on a well-beaten path which continues somewhat to the right and returns to the road which we left shortly before. When we step onto the road we continue slightly left and in one minute of further walking we get to the hunting cottage, which is situated at the edge of the forest.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2015 (March).

On the way: Cerkev Marijinega oznanjenja (426m)

Trip can be extended to: Vrh soteske (Križna gora) , Archangel Gabriel (Planica)