Kebelj - Veliki vrh (on Pohorje)

Access to starting point:
We drive to Oplotnica (to here from Štajerska highway exit Slovenske Konjice or Slovenska Bistrica - south), and then we at first follow the signs for Osankarica, and then the signs for the settlement Kebelj. When we get to Kebelj from the center of the settlement, we turn left towards the cemetery, at which we then park.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the road which leads us on the upper northern side of the cemetery, and when after approximately 50 meters the road ends we continue right on a marked path (left - Oplotnica).
The path ahead leads us on a marked cart track which before the entrance into the forest turns right and continues by the edge of the forest, from the mentioned cart track, blazes point us to the left on a narrow cart track which continues through the forest. Through the forest, we follow the blazes, and when the path turns a little to the right, after a shorter crossing from the right joins also the other path from the settlement Kebelj.
Here we go left and we quickly get to the ruins of Kebelj castle or Castle Zajec.
We bypass the ruins on the left side and we follow the blazes to the nearby asphalt road, where we go straight upwards. Only a little further, the asphalt road on which we continue turns right, and to the left the path branches off towards Osankarica (path Kebeljska transverzala). We leave the asphalt road only a little further, where signs for lake Črno jezero point us to the left into the forest. Next follows a shorter ascent through the forest and then past a lot of litter we reach the nearby homestead (from the opposite direction there is also a warning for dangerous dog). At the homestead, the road becomes asphalted and we quickly return on a little wider asphalt road, on which we continue the ascent. After few minutes, the blazes point us to the left on a grassy cart track, on which we are ascending by the edge of the forest, and higher past the house we again step on the asphalt road which brings us to the next marked crossing.
We continue right in the direction of Sveti Trije kralji and lake Črno jezero (left - lake Črno jezero - path via Kos) and we continue on the road to a crossroad near the NOB monument.
From the crossroad, we go right towards the access path, and at the sign for dead-end street we go left on a marked footpath which continues through the forest. Next follows approximately 20 minutes of ascent through the forest, where we follow the blazes, and then we reach a road which we follow for few 10 strides to the right, where we get to Hotel Jakec, above which there is the church of Holy Three Kings.
From Church of Holy Three Kings we continue in the direction of the lake Črno jezero and the path Urškina pot, where we quickly get by the edge of the nearby ski track of the ski slope RTC Jakec - Trije kralji. The path ahead at first leads by the edge of the forest, only few meters away from the ski slope, and higher we cross the ski slope towards the right (while the ski slope operates, we cross the ski slope above the ski lift). On the other side of the ski track, the path goes a little to the right and leads us below the artificial lake.
A little after the lake we get to the connecting ski track, on which we continue the ascent (while the ski slope operates, we walk by the far left edge of the ski slope), and when few minutes higher we reach another ski track, where the marked path towards the lake Črno jezero crosses a ski slope, we still continue by the left edge, where there are also signs for path Urškina pot. Next follows few minutes of a steeper ascent and with increasingly beautiful views we get to benches on Veliki vrh, from where a nice view opens up on Pohorje and valley.
From here we can continue few more 10 meters into the forest, where there is the highest point of the peak.
Kebelj - Castle Zajec 0:20, Castle Zajec - Sveti Trije Kralji 1:20, Sveti Trije Kralji - Veliki vrh 0:30.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in January and April 2022.

On the way: Kebelj castle (Castle Zajec) (813m), Nadgrad (851m), Sveti Trije kralji (1181m)