Jelova Ruja - Brdašce

Access to starting point:
a) We leave the Adriatic Highway in the town of Karlobag and continue left towards Baške Oštarije; if coming from the direction of Zadar, turn right. The steep and winding ascending road leads us towards Baške Oštarije. We drive through a short tunnel and arrive at Baške Oštarije. After the Takalice pass the road slowly descends to the village of Brušane. When we arrive in the next village Rizvanuša, at the triangular intersection with a cross, we turn right. Follow the narrow asphalt road past individual houses. After a good 3 km the road loses its asphalt surface and becomes a gravel road. Initially we drive on a level road past a marshy field, soon arriving at an intersection where a footpath branches left to Visočica, but we continue slightly right towards Visočica (by road). Another 4 km of ascending and winding road follows to the next intersection. Left continues the road under Visočica, but we continue right. The road serpentines up to an intersection where the road to Veliki Stolac branches right (the path is marked but barely traceable from the end of the road). After the intersection the road initially descends slowly, but after crossing the ridge east of the peak Klepetuša it begins to descend. When we reach the bottom of the doline, by a larger clearing, we arrive at an intersection where we continue left and after approximately half a kilometre reach the dilapidated hut Jelova ruja, where we park in a suitable place by the road. We can also park earlier by the road. The gravel road is approximately 12 km. The road is not in the best condition, especially for lower vehicles.
b) We leave the A1 motorway at the Gospić exit and continue left to the centre of Gospić, where we continue straight towards Karlobag and Baške Oštarije. When we arrive in the village RIzvanuša, at the triangular intersection with a cross, we turn left. Follow the narrow asphalt road past individual houses. After a good 3 km the road loses its asphalt surface and becomes a gravel road. Initially we drive on a level road past a marshy field, soon arriving at an intersection where a footpath branches left to Visočica, but we continue slightly right towards Visočica (by road). Another 4 km of ascending and winding road follows to the next intersection. Left continues the road under Visočica, but we continue right. The road serpentines up to an intersection where the road to Veliki Stolac branches right (the path is marked but barely traceable from the end of the road). After the intersection the road initially descends slowly, but after crossing the ridge east of the peak Klepetuša it begins to descend. When we reach the bottom of the doline, by a larger clearing, we arrive at an intersection where we continue left and after approximately half a kilometre reach the dilapidated hut Jelova ruja, where we park in a suitable place by the road. We can also park earlier by the road. The gravel road is approximately 12 km. The road is not in the best condition, especially for lower vehicles.

Route description:
From the dilapidated forestry hut at Jelova Ruji we return to the intersection. The bend can be cut via the marked shortcut. At the intersection we continue left. Initially the road leads through the forest and ascends evenly. The forest gradually thins and we get some views towards Debeli Kuk and surrounding peaks. The road is then carved into interesting rocks. When the rocks on the right end, we make a bend between dolines and return to the forest. From the first bend there is a nice view towards Stap. After approximately 50 minutes of ascent we arrive at a bend where we leave the road and head in the direction of Šugarske dulibe. Continuing on the road we reach Panos in 20 minutes. The path begins to descend through the forest. After 10 minutes we reach a rocky section of the path where we carefully follow the markings. After 5 minutes of walking on rocks the path levels out and we arrive at grassy slopes. After a short ascent to a smaller peak we descend slightly again into the forest. The path crosses the northern slope of elevation 1262. In between, the path through Samari and Smrčovo dolino joins almost imperceptibly (mentioned in the access description to the starting point). After that the path descends slightly into a forest doline and then ascends past a larger cave which is to the right of the path. Soon we arrive in level terrain and emerge from the forest onto the grassy slopes of the nearby peak Brdašce. Here we leave the marked path and head left onto grassy off-path terrain. In a few minutes we are at the rocky section a few metres below the summit. We can reach the summit over the rocks or around on the grass. From the summit we get a wonderful view in all directions, where the nearby Veliki Stolac stands out.
Description and photos refer to the situation in May 2026.

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