Hotel Boka - Velika Kuhinja

Access to starting point:
From Bovec, we drive towards Kobarid or vice versa. Before the bridge Boka (from the direction of Kobarid after the bridge) is a parking lot on which we park. There is also a designated parking area at the nearby Hotel Boka, which is located approximately 100 meters from the bridge in the direction of Kobarid.

Path description:
If we park in the parking lot at Hotel Boka, we continue from the parking lot towards the Boka waterfall along the footpath that bypasses the hotel on the left side. The path leads us through a short stretch of forest to a bridge where we cross the main road. On the other side of the road we continue along the footpath, follow the signs for the viewpoint and soon turn left. The path starts to ascend through the forest and brings us to a well-maintained vantage point that offers a breathtaking view of the Boka waterfall. Information boards are also set up at this spot.
From the vantage point we continue along the footpath through the forest, which ascends relatively steeply. From the left, the path from the village of Žaga joins us. Further on, several paths leading upwards occasionally appear. If we stick to the right-hand paths, the view of the Boka waterfall opens up several times. Caution is required when observing the waterfall, as the slope on the northern side is precipitous. The path leads mostly through the forest, but occasionally views open towards the Boka waterfall and the Soča valley. At an altitude of approximately 750 metres we reach a junction where a dead-end path first branches off to the right. A few metres further on there is another junction. This time another path branches off to the right, leading to the last vantage point overlooking the Boka waterfall. It is only a few minutes walk to the vantage point.
If we visit the vantage point, we return to the mentioned junction and continue along the left path, which first descends slightly and brings us to an unmarked junction. The path to the left downwards leads back to the starting point, straight ahead leads to the village of Žaga, while we head right upwards along the path that leads towards the Baban mountain pasture. The path ascends through the forest almost straight upwards and brings us to a slightly better-trodden trail that traverses the slope. We continue left (the right path ends quickly) along the trail that runs past rocky barriers and continues to ascend through the forest. Soon we join a somewhat wider mule track along which we climb for quite some time. We walk through the forest the whole time, so there are almost no views from the path. Here and there, if we step off the path, a view of the Soča river valley occasionally opens up.
Higher up we join the path from the village of Žaga, which is marked but the blazes are rare and heavily faded. We continue to the right, and the path soon brings us to the quite overgrown Baban mountain pasture. At the mountain pasture we leave the mule track, where a faded inscription on the rock directs us left onto a grassy slope where the path is not clearly visible. All that remains is a traversing ascent across the slightly overgrown pasture to the hut that we can already see ahead.
From the hut we walk back a few metres and beside the path we can spot a faded blaze and arrow on a rock that directs us diagonally across a grassy slope. From the pasture we then turn left and head towards a small valley that runs northwest. The path through the grassy valley is mostly invisible; only here and there we may notice a faded blaze. For most of the time the path runs along the right side of the valley and continually ascends west-northwest towards the slopes of Velika Baba, which we can see in the background. When we are very close to the slopes of Velika Baba, the path turns slightly right towards the north and ascends through a narrower valley on the southeastern side of Velika Baba.
We leave this valley where the marked path runs and head left onto the slopes on the southern side of Velika Baba. Here a faintly visible footpath runs in places, and several cairns also help us. We ascend diagonally and reach a broad ridge on the south side of Velika Baba. Here a view also opens towards the notch Med Babo.
On this broad ridge we leave the footpath that leads to the notch Med Babo and head left downwards towards Velika Kuhinja, which is clearly visible from here. At first, we descend along a grassy ridge in the direction of Velika Kuhinja. As we approach the notch, we leave the ridge to the left and ascend an occasionally slightly steeper, mostly grassy slope where some caution is required. On such a slope we then quickly reach the panoramic summit.
It is also possible to ascend the summit from the east side; in that case one would leave the marked path leading from Planina Baban towards Velika Baba a little lower down.

On the way: Planina Baban (1401m)