Pod Peco / Koprein-Petzen - Šoparjev vrh

Access to starting point:
A) Over the border crossing Jezerski vrh or Pavličev vrh we drive to Bela / Bad Vellach, and from there we continue driving towards Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel. At the beginning of Železna Kapla we notice signs for Lepena / Leppen, which point us to the right. Further, we drive on a somewhat narrower asphalt road which leads us at first along the bottom of the valley, and then at the hamlet Koprivna / Koprein - Sonnseite it starts ascending steeper. Higher, we arrive at the hamlet Pod Peco / Koprein - Petzen, where there is the starting point of the path to Topica / Topitza and inn Riepl. Here we continue straight on the initially still asphalt road which further leads past the church of all faiths. A little above the church the asphalt ends, and the road starts descending. After a short descent, we arrive at a smaller crossroad, where we continue right in the direction of Peca and St. Ana (ahead on the main road Globasnica / Globasnitz). From the crossroad, we drive only for a short time, and then we arrive at a barrier near which we park in an appropriate place.
B) From Dravograd or Slovenj Gradec we drive to Ravne na Koroškem, and then we continue driving in the direction of border crossing Holmec. When we drive into Austria we first drive towards Pliberk / Bleiburg, and then we follow the signs for Globasnica / Globasnitz. After approximately 13 km from the border crossing Holmec we arrive in Globasnica, from there we continue driving left towards the upper part of the settlement. From Globasnica we continue on a narrower and ascending road in the direction of hamlet Pod Peco / Koprein - Petzen. Further, we ascend for quite some time along Globaška grapa, and then the road brings us to an indistinct pass, where we arrive at a smaller crossroad. Here, where we notice signs for Peca we continue left on a side road, on which we quickly descend to the nearby barrier near which we park in an appropriate place.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue past the barrier and on the road in a few minutes descend to the crossroad at the edge of the mountain pasture Spodnja Luža.
Here the marked Austrian path branches off to the left to Peca or to Bistriška špica, and we continue straight in the direction of the mountain hut at the Kumer farm. The path ahead leads us through an expansive mountain pasture, then it goes along the edge of the forest and splits into two parts. We choose the lower worse road, on which along the edge of the forest we descend to the state border and also cross it. After a few meters of walking on the Slovenian side we join a wider macadam road, and we continue the descent on it. Somewhat lower a marked cart track branches off to the right towards St. Ana, and we continue descending. When we have already descended by 100 elevation meters, we arrive at a somewhat larger and marked crossroad, where the road to Kumer branches off to the right, straight ahead the road continues towards Koprivna and Črna na Koroškem, and we continue sharply left on the ascending road (at the crossroad there are also the first Slovenian signs for Peca).
From the crossroad, we continue on the road in the direction of Šopar, Ledrovec, Topla and the marked path to Peca. The road on which we continue quickly splits, and we choose the slightly left road (right Šopar and Debelak), from which after approximately 10 minutes a marked footpath branches off to the left to Peca.
We continue further on the macadam road which past the chapel brings us out of the forest, where with nice views we reach the Ledrovec homestead. Above the homestead the road makes a few hairpin turns, then returns to the forest. When we return to the forest, the road gradually levels out, then for some time in a gentle ascent crosses the slopes to the left.
When the road starts to descend lightly, we reach the pass between the valleys Koprivna and Topla, and at the snow gauge we continue right onto the cart track. The cart track quickly enters dense forest, and then we follow the unmarked path to the nearby Šoparjev vrh, from which a nice view opens towards Peca and Topla.
Starting point - planina Luža 5 minutes, planina Luža - Koprivna 20 minutes, Koprivna - Šoparjev vrh 1:10.

On the way: Planina Luža (1250m), Ledrovec (1305m), Preval (1413m)

Trip can be extended to: Čofatijev vrh ( 35 min)