Koča na Šumiku - Ruška koča na Arehu

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 also drive to the settlement Smrečno. We then drive on forest roads on Pohorje, where we drive along Bistrica. Higher up, we join the road that leads past the Ruška koča na Pohorju mountain hut. Here we go left towards Osankarica, and at the next crossroad we go slightly right in the direction of the Šumik estate (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 us through Spodnje and Zgornje Hoče, Slivniško Pohorje, and after the settlements we follow the signs for Areh. From Areh, we follow the signs for Cojzerica, Šumik and Osankarica. After a few kilometers, we go slightly right in the direction of the Šumik estate (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 in the direction of Smolnik and Šumik, then follow the signs for the Šumik estate, where we park on the parking lot in front of the Gozdarska koča na Šumiku forestry cottage.

Route description:
From the starting point, we head onto the marked path towards Osankarica and Koča na Klopnem vrhu (along the road there is a somewhat shorter unmarked path), where through a strip of forest we ascend back onto the road. When we reach the road, we continue straight ahead (right - Ruše), and at the nearby road junction we choose the slightly left road (slightly right - Klopni vrh), along which we quickly arrive at a 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 onto 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 past the junction of the path towards Črno jezero and Sv. Tri kralji.
At both junctions we follow the direction of Ruška koča na Arehu, and the path soon leaves the road, a little higher we cross the road towards Osankarica. This is followed by a traverse ascent on the northern slopes of Bajgotov vrh (1161 m), then the path levels out, and at the junctions we follow the blazes. The path ahead leads us along a poorer macadam road, after a short descent we cross an even wider macadam road. This is followed by some more walking through the forest, then we reach another road, where the path from Sv. Tri kralji joins us from the right. Along the road we continue to the nearby NOB monument, from where we continue on the marked path, and the path joins a cart track a few minutes higher, where we follow the blazes. Higher up we cross a poorer forest road, a little further we arrive at a marked junction, where the path to Žigartov vrh branches off to the left, and we continue straight. The path ahead descends slightly and brings us to a poorer road, along which we continue the crossing. This is followed by traversing Žigartov vrh, where a short path to the source of the Polskava branches off to the right, and we continue straight to the junction, where we join a wider macadam road, and go right (from the left a somewhat longer path joins us, which leads over Žigartov vrh).
The path ahead leads us through the forest for a few minutes, and when we leave the forest we reach a larger parking lot by Hotel Areh. At the end of the parking lot we go right and in one minute of further walking we arrive at Ruška koča na Arehu.
Description refers to the condition in June 2022, and the pictures are from May 2022 and June 2022.

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