| jerque23. 06. 2024 21:29:23 |
A bit delayed by a few days, a longer report. Along with this, some general questions arose that have nothing to do with the location.
So, we went on Wednesday when the forecasters predicted a heat wave. For some "personal" reasons, we attacked it from the western direction. Starting from Sorica or (Zg.) Danj was also in play, but it wasn't quite clear if you can park legally and undisturbed there. On the other hand, we knew that was possible at Soriška planina plus there was some lobbying for a more "flat" variant. From there we took the marked path to Krekova koča and Gladki vrh above it. Officially the path should take a bit over 3h one way, but we walked it without much "racing" in approx. 2.5h each direction. Hats off to PD Železniki for exemplary marking, only one sign near the start, which leads in another direction, was completely unreadable and only there we relied on maPZS navigation. Most surprising, that all the way to the hut and back we didn't meet a single living soul, at least human. Whether it's the day and early start time, or generally not much traffic here...
As said, at Soriška planina you can park for free and legally (someone correctly concluded without a map that it obviously doesn't lie in the municipality of Bohinj yet  ). Very early in the morning there was no one there except a couple of cars at pension Lajnar, probably their guests. Upon return, another 5 gathered around our car, some more at the pension, also on the road occasionally a foreign-plated camper drove by, somewhat surprising given the proximity of tourist-famous Bohinj and road connection to similarly famous Soča valley. At the mentioned parking lot, "hobo" overnighting is allowed if you just pay the tourist tax at the pension. But by the meadows and roads a bit aside in our direction, everywhere signs prohibiting "camping". Is there really such a rush of freeloaders?
The first part of the path all the way to Kremant, to tell the truth, is nothing spectacular or special. Which maybe isn't so bad given the proximity of Bohinj, at least it immediately filters out instant tourists from real hikers etc. Anyway, at first you walk more or less through forest, at the beginning even on gravel and asphalt roads, when we finally turn onto footpaths, some barricades in the form of felled large spruces first appeared (which probably means they'll clear them soon), and then suddenly left and right of the marked path fence, the path itself closed with two "springs". Since there was no sign and no lawyer among us, we nicely removed the upper “spring” at one end, stepped over the lower one and clipped it back. Hope we didn't commit an offense or give someone grounds for possible property disturbance. And while the "spring" was removed, I'd swear I heard some high tones. Did we perhaps trigger an alarm or something? Later we obviously left the fenced area, this time through a gate with a weight patent for automatic closing.
In this first part the path leaves the forest for a while longer at Danjarska planina, where some horses were grazing that didn't pay attention to us. Somewhat surprisingly they were playful even on the return, when you'd expect the animals to retreat to the shade and take a siesta. Also on the path across the planina, horse droppings were noticeable. Perhaps a tip for urban gardeners, manure from the mentioned raw material is sold at quite salty prices.
The less spectacular first part of the path somehow ends a bit beyond Kačji rob, when the path branches off from yet another forest road to the right and upwards through the last forest. Obviously several parallel versions have been trodden here, if we stick more to the left, we'll spot the first bunker of the Rupnik line on our left. Otherwise all on Ratitovec are obviously standard and built to the same plan, which reminds me of a mouse with a long tail. Surprisingly, there are no markings for the Rupnik line anywhere, such as we're used to from the Gorenja vas area, Blegoš and also Zaplan.
Anyway, behind that bunker the path finally leaves the forest (after all, we should reach the forest line height) and the real alpine paradise opens up to us, and June justified its folk name rožnik. We climb to Kremant and then along the ridge towards "Starem zidu" (my Slovenianization of Altemaver). The air wasn't the clearest and distant peaks were somewhat foggy, but the views were still worth shouting about. Somewhere ahead we also noticed a group of larger birds (raptors?), unfortunately not well visible against the sun, which unfortunately flew away before we got the cameras out. I'd be grateful for a hint what that could theoretically be. When the path from Zg. Danj joins us (more on that later), then during the ascent to Altemaver already the second bunker. And then in the "wedge" between the junction another one. On the way there we went via the "northern bypass" under the summit and along the path, who would have thought, another bunker awaited us, which in the spirit of reuse also serves as a base for markings. Soon after the paths merge again, finally the view of Krekova koča. A short descent awaits us, past a dedicated narrow "gap" in the fence and two ponds (is that what they're called?), around which a fairly large herd of cows was grazing. We knew cows are generally peaceful and not to be disturbed, but among them there were obviously at least three bulls who didn't care much for public morals and happily indulged in mounting cows. For the bulls we weren't clear how aggressive they can be towards people, so we bypassed the groups at a proper safety distance and then past the winter bivouac reached Krekova koča, which is probably synonymous with Ratitovec. Only here did we meet the first human fellow sufferers dripping from the opposite (eastern) direction, probably that's the "highway" from Prtovč. But in the morning it wasn't crowded yet. The hut was open, but no one was sitting on the benches around it.
From the hut a short climb to the nearby Gladki vrh, where cows were also grazing, obviously quite an attraction for a good part of visitors. Hey, isn't there any mountaineer here who would "throw a glance" at them and milk them? Gladki vrh has two more bunkers with closed doors, the southern one is nicely visible even from in front of the hut, the northern one from the pillar at the summit itself. Apparently there would be two more bunkers if we continued further east to Kosmati vrh, but they'll wait for another time when detailed exploration of the eastern end of Ratitovec is planned.
Then return from the hut again past cows and potent bulls to Altemaver, this time over a really spectacular summit. Let's also say that otherwise on the ridge sometimes strong gusts of north wind blew, so there was no hero who dared to come too close to the very edge of the cliff above the almost vertical south wall. West of Altemaver the already mentioned branch towards Zg. Danj. My lobbying to return via that path and then climb from Sp. to Zg. Jirna vrh back to the original path was doomed to failure in advance, but somehow I managed to get a compromise that the "bunker freaks" wait for me there while I jump those few 100m to yet another bunker that also serves as a base for markings and is otherwise nicely visible from Kremant too. The start of that path is fenced with some low wooden barrier, which could probably be stepped over easily if there wasn't wire stretched above it (electric shepherd?), but a couple of meters aside I as long-legged somehow managed to step over everything. Already to the bunker a very narrow "track" led through tall grass, as if the path was untrafficked and only occasionally some loner strays onto it. Still, I'd be interested in what the continuation would be if my proposal had prevailed, i.e. regarding the continuation of the path itself and the difficulty of the ascent between the two Jirnas. But we took the same path back and that "more annoying" part through forests and "barricades" dragged on much more than on the way there. Probably due to fatigue and the fact that going down is harder than up...
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