Oplotnica - Sveti Trije kralji

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana–Maribor highway, take the Slovenske Konjice exit, then follow the signs for Slovenske Konjice. From the roundabout at the OMV gas station, turn onto the first right exit towards Slovenska Bistrica; drive towards Slovenska Bistrica to the left-hand turn-off towards Oplotnica and Osankarica. Turn towards Oplotnica and drive along the road to the center of the settlement, where we park on one of the many parking lots in the settlement.
B) From the Maribor–Ljubljana highway, take the Slovenska Bistrica–south exit, then follow the signs for Slovenske Konjice. Soon after Slovenska Bistrica, turn right towards Oplotnica, then drive to the center of Oplotnica, where we park on one of the many parking lots in the settlement.

Path description:
From the center of the settlement, we head onto the path in the direction of Osankarica, Črno jezero and Trije Kralji and first walk on the sidewalk past the Mercator store, the primary school Pohorski bataljon Oplotnica to the pizzeria Salama, where we go left and then immediately right, so that we bypass the pizzeria on the right side.
The path ahead starts visibly ascending on a narrower asphalt road which leads us past occasional houses, and when we already arrive at the settlement Lačna Gora, a nice view also opens up towards Oplotnica and the surrounding hills.
Higher, at the cross, the signs for Črno jezero direct us right, where we go past the last house, behind which we continue the ascent on a macadam road, and from it we soon go left into the forest on a marked footpath. Through the forest we ascend more steeply, a little higher we cross the macadam road which we left shortly before, then in a moderate ascent we arrive at the church of St. Mohor and Fortunatus.
At the church, we return to the road, along which we continue towards the north. The road quickly turns into a cart track which first leads us through the forest, then across a panoramic grassy section, where we descend a little temporarily.
When in the village Kebelj we reach the asphalt road, we cross it diagonally to the right, then go left in the direction of Črno jezero, bypassing the nearby house on the right side. There follow a few minutes of panoramic ascent across the grassy slope; when for a few steps we step onto the end of the asphalt road, a path joins us from the right with its starting point at the cemetery in the village Kebelj.
We continue straight on the marked cart track, which before entering the forest turns right and continues along the edge of the forest; from the mentioned cart track the marks direct us left onto a narrower cart track which continues through the forest. Through the forest we follow the marks; when the path turns slightly to the right, after a short crossing another path from the settlement Kebelj joins us from the right.
Here we go left and quickly arrive at the ruins of Kebeljski or Zajčev grad.
We bypass the ruins on the left side and follow the marks to the nearby asphalt road, where we go straight uphill. A little further ahead, the asphalt road along which we continue turns right, while to the left a path branches off towards Osankarica (path along the Kebelj transverzala). We leave the asphalt road a little further on, where the signs for Črno jezero direct us left into the forest. There follows a short ascent through the forest, then past numerous pieces of litter we reach the nearby homestead (from the opposite direction there is also a warning about a fierce dog). At the homestead the road becomes asphalt and we quickly return to a somewhat wider asphalt road, along which we continue the ascent. After a few minutes the marks direct us left onto a grassy cart track, along which we ascend along the edge of the forest; higher up past the house we step back onto the asphalt road, which takes us to the next marked junction.
We continue right in the direction of Trije Kralji and Črno jezero (left Črno jezero - path past Kos) and along the road to the junction near the NOB monument.
From the junction we go right towards the access road; at the dead-end sign we go left onto the marked footpath which continues through the forest. There follows approximately 20 minutes of ascent through the forest, where we follow the marks, then we reach a road which we follow for some tens of steps to the right, where we arrive at Hotel Jakec, above which is the church of sv. Trije Kralji.
Oplotnica - sv. Mohor 0:45, sv. Mohor - Zajčev grad 0:40, Zajčev grad - Trije Kralji 1:20.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in April 2022.

On the way: Lačna Gora (516m), Sveti Mohor (Lačna Gora) (602m), Kebelj castle (Castle Zajec) (813m), Nadgrad (851m)