Zalog - Polhograjska Gora (Sveti Lovrenc) (steep path)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana–Koper highway, take the Brezovica exit, then continue driving towards Dobrova (we can also reach Dobrova from the direction of Šentvid, namely through Podutik and over the Preval pass) and Polhov Gradec. In Polhov Gradec, at the bus station, continue right towards Črni Vrh. The road then climbs steeply, flattens out, and leads us through the castle courtyard. A fairly level road then takes us through the valley of Velika Božna, and we drive to the hamlet of Zalog, where we notice signs for Sv. Jurij and Polhograjska Gora directing us left. At the mentioned junction, our path begins, but since there are no designated parking spots here, we must park somewhat lower at one of the suitable places beside the road.

Path description:
From the starting point, that is, from the junction where we notice signs for the church of St. Jurij and Polhograjska Gora, we head onto the side road (there are also signs for the village Praproče at the junction), which first leads past a few houses, then begins to ascend moderately. Initially, a nice view also opens towards our goal, then the view is limited mainly to the west and north, where we can clearly see the church of St. Lenart above Črni Vrh. The road, which is quite panoramic in places, brings us higher into the village Praproče, but a few metres before the triangular junction, where there are numerous hiking signposts, we turn sharply left onto the cart track, which starts before the first house in the village (the path beginning is not marked, and the blazes are very rare or almost nonexistent further on).
The cart track initially runs across a meadow, then enters the forest, through which it gently ascends and occasionally descends. Higher up, the cart track becomes steeper and switches to the northern side of Praproški grič (709 m). A few minutes of moderate ascent follow, then we reach the saddle between the aforementioned summit on the right and Polhograjska Gora (824 m) on the left.
At the saddle, we join the path from Praproče or Briš, but just a few steps further we reach the barrier.
Just before the barrier, we continue left towards the difficult path (straight to St. Lovrenc for the easier approach) and continue the ascent along an increasingly steep path. The path, which mostly runs through pine forest, climbs even more steeply higher up and crosses a short exposed slope (especially when wet, there is a great risk of slipping). Higher up, the path levels slightly and reaches the ridge of Polhograjska Gora. Further on, the path takes us out of the forest and, after a short further ascent, to the wall of the church of St. Lovrenc. Here, with the aid of a few footholds and handholds, we climb over the mentioned wall and reach the panoramic summit.