Koča na Šumiku - Dom na Osankarici (via Črno jezero)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Maribor highway, we take the Slovenska Bistrica - south exit, then follow the signs for Šmartno na Pohorju, and from there we drive to the settlement Smrečno. Further on, we drive on forest roads on Pohorje, where we drive alongside Bistrica. Higher up, we join the road that leads past Ruška koča na Pohorju. Here we go left towards Osankarica, at the next crossroad slightly right towards the estate Šumik (slightly left Osankarica). When we reach the mentioned estate, we park on the macadam parking lot in front of the estate.
B) We leave the Štajerska highway at the exit for Slivnica and Rogoza, then follow the signs for Pohorje and Areh. The route ahead leads through Spodnje and Zgornje Hoče, Slivniško Pohorje, after the settlements we follow the signs for Areh. From Areh we follow the signs for Cojzerica and Šumik and Osankarica. After a few kilometers, we go slightly right towards the estate Šumik (slightly left Osankarica). When we reach the mentioned estate, we park on the macadam parking lot in front of the estate.
C) We drive to Ruše, then follow the road towards Fala. After crossing Lobnica we go left towards Smolnik and Šumik, then follow the signs for the estate Šumik, where we park on the parking lot in front of the Gozdarska koča na Šumiku.

Route description:
From the starting point, we head onto the marked path towards Osankarica and Koča na Klopnem vrhu (a somewhat shorter unmarked path leads along the road), where through a strip of forest we ascend back to the road. When we reach the road, we continue straight ahead (right Ruše), at the nearby road junction we choose the slightly left road (slightly right Klopni vrh), along which we quickly arrive at the marked junction.
From the junction, we continue left downhill (straight Koča na Pesku and Tiho jezero, right Klopni vrh) and descend on a moderately steep path back to the road, where we join the somewhat shorter path that leads along the road. We only cross the road, a little lower we also cross Lobnica, after which we return to the road. Along the road we continue left and pass the junction of the path towards Ruše - Holcarska pot ob Lobnici, which leads past both Šumik waterfalls, and walk along the road to the next nearby marked junction, where we go right towards Črno jezero, sv. Trije kralji and Osankarica (straight Ruška koča na Arehu), ascending through the forest. This is followed by crossing a stream, a little higher also crossing the road Areh - Osankarica. We continue ascending through the forest, following the blazes at the junctions. Higher up, the path levels out and we continue briefly through sections of sparse forest, then moderately ascend through the forest again.
After the indistinct summit Trije studenci, the path gently descends to a marked junction, where the path forks.
We continue right towards Osankarica and Črno jezero (straight sv. Trije kralji) and then descend gently to moderately, following the blazes. When the descent ends, we arrive at a junction near Črno jezero.
We continue straight (left Oplotnica - path past Kos) and in a few steps arrive at the lake.
We follow the path ahead towards Osankarica, bypassing the lake on the right side, after crossing the stream the path enters the forest and continues along a log-paved path. The path initially continues without major elevation changes, after some time it begins to descend noticeably. We follow the paved path, which is slippery when wet, all the way to the parking lot near Dom na Osankarici. From the parking lot, we cross the road and ascend to Dom na Osankarici, which burned down in 2021.
Posestvo Šumik - Črno jezero 1:55, Črno jezero - Osankarica 0:15.
Opis and pictures refer to the condition in April and June 2022.

Along the route: Črno jezero on Pohorje (1196m)

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