Okrog (Lazar) - Bajturn (Zaplaški hrib) (on ridge)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Novo mesto highway, we take the Trebnje east exit, then continue driving towards the Velika Loka settlement. After the Zidani Most settlement, we arrive at the Štefan pri Trebnjem settlement, where we continue sharply left towards Zaplaz. After a few kilometers of a partly winding road, we arrive at Čatež, from where the road starts descending towards the Mirna river. When we arrive in the valley, we first cross the bridge over the Dušica stream, where we continue straight. A little further, we arrive at the next crossroad, where from the main road, which turns left, the road towards Gornje Ravne branches off to the right. Also here, we continue on the main road, then before the main road crosses the bridge over the Mirna river, we turn left onto a smaller parking lot, which is situated between the river, the road and the beginning of the described path.
B) From Trebnje or Mokronog, we drive to Mirna, from there towards Litija. Towards Litija, we drive to the sharp right turn, from there we continue left towards Cirnik and Selske Gore. After Cirnik, the road gradually starts descending. When we descend to the Mirna river, we first cross the bridge, then at the crossroad we continue right. From the crossroad, we drive a good 100 meters, then before the main road crosses the bridge over the Mirna river, we turn left onto a smaller parking lot, which is situated between the river, the road and the beginning of the described path.
C) We drive to Šmartno pri Litiji, from there we continue driving towards Gabrovka. After the Moravče pri Gabrovki settlement, after the transformer we turn slightly right towards the gas station. Further, we drive through the valley of the Mirna river, whereby the road leads us past the turn-off towards the Tlaka settlement. When the road, after the mentioned turn-off, first crosses to the right bank of the Mirna, we park on the parking lot by the road.

Path description:
From the starting point, we head onto an initially overgrown path that climbs above the road, continues steeply above it for a short time, then turns somewhat more to the right, leading us above the hay meadow. Further on, the path enters the forest, where it first leads over some fallen trees, then continues across on a cart track. When the cart track brings us out of the forest, it gently descends and joins the road leading to the nearby Dule homestead.
We continue through the yard, then behind the house the road ends and we continue on a poorer grassy cart track that leads us across the hay meadow. A little further ahead, the path turns right, temporarily ascends somewhat more steeply, then joins a wider cart track, which we follow left. The cart track leads us for a few minutes along the upper edge of the hay meadow, then enters the forest, where at the nearby junction we reach the Levstik path from Litija to Čatež.
We follow the mentioned path left, on it descending in two hairpins to a small stream, which we cross, then continue traversing through the forest. While walking through the forest, the path leads us past several information boards of the Levstik path, then somewhat behind the wooden cross we emerge from the forest, where we cross the next stream. At the hunting observatory, we continue left in the direction of the pilgrims' path, then ascend across through the forest to the asphalt road a few minutes away, which runs through the Čatež settlement. We follow the road right, on it quickly arriving at the large parking lot located behind the fire station.
From the parking lot, near which is also the endpoint of the Levstik path from Litija to Čatež, we first ascend to the parish church of St. Michael in Čatež, from there behind the church we continue right and at Gostilna Tončkov dom return to the main road, which we reach at the marked intersection. We continue the ascent on the main road, which leads us past the bus station and the tourist map, then after a good 100 meters we continue right onto the steep road towards Zaplaz. The road quickly flattens and turns left, bringing us to the edge of the forest, where there is a marked junction.
The right path leads towards Zagrič and also to Bajturn and Zaplaz, while we continue on the asphalt road for another dozen steps, then the sign for the pilgrims' path directs us onto a grassy path, on which with fine views we ascend to the church on Zaplaz in a few minutes.
From the church, we walk to the other side, where we step onto a larger parking lot.
From the Zaplaz parking lot, we continue westwards, where at the end of the parking lot we reach a marked junction.
We continue straight (right: chapel with healing water and Bajturn via the northern slope), thus bypassing the nearby homestead on the right side. Behind the house, the cart track immediately brings us to a fine viewpoint, from which a nice view opens towards Dolenjska and the surrounding hills. Further on, the cart track enters the forest and moderately ascends the ridge, where along the path we notice a larger number of information boards. Somewhat behind the stone for weather forecasting, at the small junction we continue slightly left (if continuing slightly right, we join the path via the northern slope), the gentle path, which temporarily even slightly descends, leads us past a manger and a hunting blind. At the junction behind the blind, we go slightly right and temporarily ascend more steeply. When the path returns to the ridge, it turns left and flattens. From here, only a few minutes of gentle ascent remain, and the forest path brings us to the vegetated summit.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2016 (March).

On the way: Čatež (454m), Zaplaz (543m)