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 Dravograd a little after the settlement). Few 100 meters before (from the direction Dravograd after the settlement) the mentioned settlement to the right (from the direction Dravograd left) a road branches off towards Gradišče and Kapla, and then at the crossroads we go towards Kapla. On the road, we drive to the settlement Zgornja Kapla, where in the center of the settlement, below the church of St. Katarina Aleksandrijska we park on a 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 Maribor right) on a side road which continues by the succursal primary school and then it is ascending by the stream Ožbaltski potok. Higher at the crossroads we go in the direction of Kapla, and we drive to the center of the settlement Zgornja Kapla, where below the church of St. Katarina Aleksandrijska we park on a 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 stream Potočnikov potok on the left and the valley of stream Črmenica on the right.
From the crossroad, we proceed straight towards Austria (slightly left lake 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 Sveti Duh point us to the right (left Sveti 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 a condition in March 2023.