Gozdec - Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu

Access to starting point:
We drive into the center of Bovec, where from the crossroad at the main square we continue on an ascending road which, past the post office, begins to ascend towards the nearby church. We bypass the mentioned church on the left side, and then we arrive in Kaninska vas. Bovec then ends, and the road leads us for some time towards the west. At a smaller junction we leave the main asphalt road which leads towards the village of Plužna and continue driving on the slightly right road (behind the crossroad there are signs for the Gozdec road). Behind the nearby homestead the road splits once again, and this time we choose the slightly left road (slightly right Zavrzelno and the starting point of the path to Rombon). Further on, we ascend on a macadam road which higher brings us to the B station of the cable car on Kanin. At the B station the road turns sharply left, and then in a traversing ascent after approximately 1 km of further driving brings us to the next crossroad. From the mentioned crossroad we continue left or straight ahead (sharply right to mountain pasture Krnica), and we follow the road from the crossroad only for a short time. Beside the road we soon notice signs for Kanin, and we park about 20 meters further on, on a small parking lot by the road.
From Trg Golobarskih žrtev to the starting point there is approximately 9 km.

Path description:
From the starting point we return a few steps back, then we head onto the marked path in the direction of Visoki Kanin and Vrh Laške planje. The path immediately starts to ascend steeply, mostly leading us through dense forest, only occasionally opening up some views of the surroundings. During the ascent the path leads us below the cliffs of Turn v Skednju (1555 m). When the cliffs end we arrive at an unmarked junction, where we continue slightly right on the marked path (slightly left unmarked path which leads to Veliki Babanski Skedenj 2121 m), which soon steeply ascends over a short steep slope, where especially when wet there is greater danger of slipping. The steepness soon eases and we arrive at the abandoned mountain pasture Gozdec, which we bypass on the right side.
Further on we ascend through increasingly sparse forest, so that from the path some views open up towards Bovška kotlina and Krnsko pogorje. A fairly even ascent follows, and while looking at the walls of Veliki Skedanj we arrive at a small spring located to the right by the path. Even further on the still-followable path is covered by grass, which after rain, in the morning and forenoon can still be quite wet. After a while the path turns more towards the west and gradually becomes less steep. A few minutes of panoramic ascent follow and we arrive at the ruins of the old Koča Petra Skalarja, which burned down in 1972.
We bypass the hut on the left side, then for some time we ascend gently to moderately on more grassy terrain. The path then turns more towards the south, so we get the feeling that we are going in the wrong direction. Some steeper ascent follows, the path slowly turns right, so further on we walk mostly towards the west. A few minutes of easy walking follow and we arrive at a marked junction, where we continue right downwards in the direction of Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu (straight ahead Visoki Kanin and Vrh Laške planje).
After a short descent the path levels out, then crosses the podi terrain. An ascent follows through the high-mountain landscape of Kaninski podi, where there is mostly no path, but the marks are quite frequent, so orientation in good weather is not difficult, though of course completely different in fog. The path ahead leads us over scree and among sinkholes, pits and fissures, so caution is advised, and in wet conditions the smooth slabs can also be quite slippery. Further on we ascend diagonally for some time on the slopes of Velika Gnila glava (2114 m), and the path on this section brings us to the next marked junction.
We continue slightly right (left returns to the path towards Vrh Laške planje) and further carefully follow the fainter path and marks. We follow this path, which offers really beautiful views of the Kanin massif, all the way to Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu, from where a beautiful view also opens up towards the east.
Starting point - planina Gozdec 0:50, planina Gozdec - Stara koča 1:20, Stara koča - Dom Petra Skalarja 2:05.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2019 (July).

On the way: Planina Gozdec (1305m), Krlišče (1814m)

Trip can be extended to: Konjc ( 10 min) , Vrh Osojnic ( 25 min) , Prestreljenik (1 h 30 min) , Visoki Kanin (2 h 35 min)