Črna na Koroškem (Mušenik) - Koča na Pikovem (via Igrčevo)

Access to starting point:
A) We drive to Mežica, and then we continue driving in the direction of Črna na Koroškem. At the beginning of Črna na Koroškem, a road branches off to the right, which leads towards the mountain hut Koča na Pikovem, and here we continue straight and then approximately 20 meters ahead left on a larger parking lot, where we park.
B) From Šoštanj over mountain pass Sleme (mountain pass near of which there is a mountain hut Andrejev dom na Slemenu) we drive to Črna na Koroškem, where at the roundabout we take the exit in the direction of Mežica. At the end of the settlement (approximately 20 meters before the crossroad, where the road and footpath branch off to the left towards Koča na Pikovem) Črna na Koroškem, it turns right on a larger parking lot, where we park.
C) From Solčava over mountain pass Spodnje Sleme we drive to Črna na Koroškem, where at the roundabout we take the exit in the direction of Mežica. At the end of the settlement (approximately 20 meters before the crossroad, where the road and footpath branch off to the left towards Koča na Pikovem) Črna na Koroškem, it turns right on a larger parking lot, where we park.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we walk to the main road, where at the pedestrian crossing we carefully cross the main road, and then we continue right towards Mežica to the nearby crossroad, where we already notice signposts for mountain hut Koča na Pikovem, which point us to the left on a side road. The path ahead leads us on the asphalt road, where we go past few houses, and at the smaller crossroad, we continue right in the direction of Igrčevo (straight a marked path towards Koča na Pikovem).
Next follows an ascent in few hairpin turns and we get to Igrčevo, where we go past the entrance into an abandoned lead and zinc mine (today through the mentioned mine runs a tourist cycling path) and past few houses. Here, the asphalt ends, and the next house we bypass on the left side. Next follows some ascent, where when we look back a nice view opens up towards Črna na Koroškem, and the path only a little further brings us to the spot, where the cart track branches off slightly to the right. Here we continue slightly left, and at the next crossroad, we go right, where we go by the power line pole. We short time still continue through the forest and then we get to meadows, where the path branches off to the right towards another entrance into the mine, and we continue straight and we ascend to the next crossroad.
Here we go left (right another entrance into the mine) and we diagonally ascend to the homestead Merkač (as on the maps), where there is a smaller cross. From the mentioned homestead follows a little more of an ascent and we get to the homestead, behind which on maps we notice the name Mlačnik, where by the fenced area for wild animals, continues the footpath which leads towards the homestead Šumah, and we continue on the road and we ascend above the homestead. When we return into the forest in two hairpin turns we ascend to a little wider macadam road which we follow to the left (sharply right a homestead Šumah, saddle Šumahovo sedlo and Mežica). Few minutes ahead we get to a smaller saddle between Kasnjakov vrh on the left and Pikov vrh on the right, where a cycling downhill track branches off to the left, and on the right we notice a memorial plaque. For some time we still walk on the road, and when in a smaller valley, which the road only crosses, the road turns to the left, we continue slightly right on a cart track, and from there left on a beaten gentle footpath. The footpath which cuts a longer turn a little before the church of St. Helena returns on the road, and past the church we get to the mountain hut Koča na Pikovem.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in February 2020.

Trip can be extended to: Pikov vrh ( 5 min) , Veliki vrh (above Mežiška dolina) ( 45 min)