Sveta Katarina (Zgornja Kapla) - Tolsti vrh (on Kozjak)

Access to starting point:
A) From the road Maribor - Dravograd we drive almost to the settlement Ožbalt (from the direction of Dravograd a little after the settlement). A few 100 m before (from the direction of Dravograd after the settlement) the mentioned settlement a road branches off to the right (from the direction of Dravograd to the left) towards Gradišče and Kapla, then at the crossroads we follow towards Kapla. We drive along the road to the settlement Zgornja Kapla, where in the center of the settlement, below the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria we park on the parking lot at the cemetery. From the main road to the starting point there is a little less than 15 km.
B) From the road Dravograd - Maribor we drive to the settlement Ožbalt, where at the parish church we turn left (from the direction of Maribor right) onto a side road, which continues by the branch primary school and then ascends along the Ožbaltski potok stream. Higher at the crossroads we follow in the direction of Kapla, and we drive to the center of the settlement Zgornja Kapla, where below the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria we park on the parking lot at the cemetery. From the main road to the starting point there is a little less than 8 km.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we head onto the road towards Sveta Katarina, then bypass the church on its lower left side. In front of the fire station and past the sports field, we turn left downwards, beginning our descent along a marked path. We quickly reach an asphalt road, continuing our descent, which leads us past a few houses to a marked crossroad at the saddle between the valley of Potočnikov potok stream on the left and the valley of Črmenica stream on the right.
From the crossroad, we proceed straight towards Austria (slightly left Odomovo jezero and Brezno, right Ožbalt) and ascend past a few more houses. Next follows a quite panoramic walk to the national border, where Austrian signs for the path towards Sv. Duh point us to the right (left sv. Pankracij).
Already on the Austrian side, we leave the road and on a panoramic grassy slope start ascending towards Tolsti vrh. Before we step into the forest, when we look back, a beautiful view opens up, reaching far towards the west, and through the forest, in a minute of further walking, we arrive at Tolsti vrh, which we recognize by the border stone XI 218.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in March 2023.