Gozdec - Mali Kanin (Alta Via Resiana)

Access to starting point:
We drive to the center of Bovec, where from the intersection at the main square we continue on the ascending road that past the post office begins to climb towards the nearby church. We bypass the mentioned church on the left side, then arrive in Kaninska vas. Bovec then ends, and the road leads us west for some time. At a small junction we leave the main asphalt road leading to Plužna village and continue driving on the slightly right road (after the intersection, signs for Gozdec road). Behind the nearby homestead the road forks again, and this time we choose the slightly left road (slightly right Zavrzelno and trailhead for Rombon). We then ascend on the gravel road, which higher up brings us to the B station of the Kanin cable car. At the B station the road turns sharply left, then after about 1 km of further driving in a traverse ascent brings us to the next intersection. From this intersection we continue left or straight (sharply right to planina Krnica), following the road from the intersection only briefly. Soon by the road we 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 it is approximately 9 km.

Path description:
From the starting point we go back a few steps, then head onto the marked trail towards Visoki Kanin and Vrh Laške planje. The trail immediately starts steeply ascending, mostly leading through dense forest, with occasional views of the surroundings. During the ascent the trail leads below the cliffs of Turn v Skednju (1555 m). When the cliffs end we reach an unmarked junction, where we continue slightly right on the marked trail (slightly left unmarked trail to Veliki Babanski Skedenj 2121 m), which soon steeply climbs over a short steep slope, where especially when wet there is greater risk of slipping. The steepness soon eases and we reach the abandoned planina Gozdec, which we bypass on the right side.
Continuing we ascend through increasingly sparse forest, so some views open towards Bovška kotlina and Krnsko pogorje. Follows a fairly even ascent, and while looking at the walls of Veliki Skedenj we reach a small spring located right by the trail. Even further the visible trail is covered by grass that can be quite wet after rain, in the morning and forenoon. After a while the trail turns more westwards and gradually becomes less steep. Follows a few minutes of scenic ascent and we reach the ruins of the old Petra Skalar hut, which burned down in 1972.
We bypass the hut on the left side, then for some time ascend gently to moderately through more grassy terrain. The trail then turns more south, where a somewhat steeper ascent follows, the trail slowly turns right, so further we mostly walk westwards. Follows a few minutes of easy walking and we reach a marked junction, where we continue left following Kanin signs, right leads the trail to Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu.
The trail then with some short descents and ascents brings us again to a junction. Right branches another trail to Dom Petra Skalarja, straight or slightly right leads the trail through Zadnji dol valley to Visoki Kanin, we head left towards Vrh Laške Planje.
From the junction we first ascend mostly grassy terrain where the trail is very poorly visible. The trail then soon turns right and for some time runs northwest almost parallel to the trail to Visoki Kanin. Later the trail turns slightly left and the terrain becomes more rocky. Further we walk for quite some time on Kaninski podi where the trail is mostly invisible, so we must be very attentive to markers and cairns. At some places the trail ascends more steeply, so we need to use hands too. Later the trail turns slightly right and brings us to more scree terrain beside which we ascend steeply. Along such trail we then reach a small notch on the left side of the summit Turn pod Laško Planjo.
Here we continue left and begin a very steep ascent along the partly grassy ridge. Here considerable caution is needed, as the ascent is very steep and also dangerous for slipping. We continue along the ridge, which further becomes somewhat less steep and again more rocky. We follow the ridge all the way to Vrh Laške Planje, located on the border between Italy and Slovenia.
At the summit where we join the Visoka Rezijanska pot we continue right along the border ridge. Initially we descend slightly along a fairly wide and undemanding ridge marked with red triangles. Our trail soon descends a bit, then ascends again over rocks to the ridge along which we reach the lesser-known summit Mali Dol. From the summit we descend to the nearby notch from which a not too steep gully leads towards Kaninski podi. From the notch we continue straight and ascend the ridge along which we soon reach the summit of Črni Vogel.
From Črni Vogel we begin descending the steep slope which also has some scree. Further the trail becomes more demanding and runs along and over occasionally very narrow ridge. Along such trail we reach the notch Čez Dol, the lowest point in the ridge between Vrh Laške Planje and Visoki Kanin. From the notch we continue along the still narrow ridge, then the trail becomes a shade less demanding. Follows some short more demanding passages, then we reach more grassy terrain along which we ascend towards the less pronounced summit Pod Kaninom where there is also a somewhat less visible junction where from the left joins a partly abandoned trail from the village Korito / Coritis.
We continue straight along the ridge, which in this section is fairly wide and partly covered with grass. The ridge then narrows somewhat and we begin to ascend somewhat more steeply. Further we ascend towards Mali Kanin where on a short section we move from the ridge to the left side and ascend scree. Follows ascent along somewhat more rocky ridge to Mali Kanin on which there is also a cross.

Gozdec - Planina Gozdec 0:45, Planina Gozdec - Stara koča 1:25, Stara koča - Mali dol 0:30, Mali Dol - Veliki dol 0:25, Veliki dol - Vrh Laške Planje 1:55, Vrh Laške Planje - Črni Vogel 0:30, Črni Vogel - Pod Kaninom 0:45, Pod Kaninom - Mali Kanin 0:25.

On the way: Planina Gozdec (1305m), Old mountain hut on Kanin (1814m), Mali dol (1959m), Veliki dol (1964m), Turn pod Laško Planjo (2323m), Vrh Laške Planje (2448m), Mali Dol (2374m), Črni Vogel (2422m), Čez dol (Tjaninova vrata) (2334m), Pod Kaninom (2429m)