Ortnek - Stene svete Ane

Access to starting point:
A) From Ljubljana, we drive towards Kočevje, but only to the settlement Ortnek. In the mentioned settlement, right after the snack bar Okrepčevalnica Vinija, the road branches off to the right towards the settlement Sv. Gregor. Immediately after the crossroads, we park on a suitable spot by the road. The parking lot in front of the snack bar is intended for guests.
B) From Ribnica or Sodražica, we drive to the settlement Žlebič, and from there we continue driving in the direction of Ljubljana, but only to the settlement Ortnek. In the mentioned settlement, before the snack bar Okrepčevalnica Vinija, the road branches off to the left towards the settlement Sv. Gregor. Just before the crossroads, we park on a suitable spot by the road (suitable spot is on the opposite side of the road). The parking lot in front of the snack bar is intended for guests.

Path description:
From the crossroads at Okrepčevalnica Vinija, we first carefully cross the main road, then walk some 10 steps in the direction of Ribnica. When we arrive at the crossroads where the road branches off to the left towards the settlement Velike Poljane and Grmada, we leave the main road and continue the path along the mentioned local road. After some 10 meters of further walking, we cross the stream, and behind it at the smaller crossroads we continue right in the direction of the hamlet Dule. We do not walk long towards the mentioned hamlet, as the signs for Grmada, still before the nearby house, lead us left onto a somewhat steeper macadam road, along which we continue the ascent. After a few minutes, the forest through which we are walking ends and ahead of us we see the church and the settlement Velike Poljane.
A little before the church we step onto the asphalt road, along which we begin to ascend through the village. At several crossroads we follow the signs towards Grmada, then the settlement ends and beautiful views open up to us, reaching all the way to the Julian Alps with the highest Triglav. When the road enters a smaller valley, we arrive at the place where a marked footpath branches off to the left to Grmada, and we continue along the asphalt road for some more 10 steps to the place where a macadam road branches off to the right, leading towards the east to southeast. We continue along the mentioned road, which first still leads among meadows, then after a slight descent enters the forest, where we notice signs that we are entering the bear area. The notification board is located right at the smaller crossroads, where we continue straight along the left road, which begins to ascend gently through the forest. After a few minutes, a marked path from the top of Grmada joins us from the left.
From the junction onwards, we continue a traversing ascent through the forest for quite some time, then arrive at a somewhat larger crossroads, where we continue straight in the direction of Sv. Ana (sharply left along the road we can reach Kompolje or Rapljevo). A few minutes of gentle to moderate ascent follow, then after an indistinct saddle between the peaks Tisovec (931 m) and Špičnik (926 m), the path begins to descend. A few minutes of descent follow, then the signs for Sv. Ana direct us left onto a somewhat worse road, which begins to ascend more steeply (the wider road that we leave leads towards Ribnica). Along the ascending road we walk a few minutes, then the markers lead us somewhat more to the right onto a marked footpath that continues through the forest. When the path flattens completely after a few minutes, we reach a cart track and follow it to the left, where we walk along the edge of a smaller valley, where wild garlic grows in springtime.
Somewhere in the middle of the valley, a relatively well-marked path turns right and passes onto the slopes of the peak Stene sv. Ane. For a few minutes we ascend relatively steeply to the right, then the signs for Sv. Ana direct us sharply left from the cart track onto an even somewhat steeper footpath. A relatively steep ascent follows, then after a few minutes the path flattens and brings us in a few further steps to the place where a short path branches off to the left leading to the nearby viewpoint.
From the viewpoint we return to the mentioned junction, from there we continue in the direction of Sv. Ana. A short traverse follows, then the path from the settlement Struge joins from the left, a few steps further a path branches off to the right to the summit Stene sv. Ane (straight: Koča pri sv. Ani na Mali gori).
From the junction, one more minute of walking follows and we reach the summit, on which there is a geodetic tower.
The description and pictures refer to the condition in 2015 (April).

On the way: Velike Poljane (616m)

Trip can be extended to: Grmada on Mala gora , Koča pri Sveti Ani on Mala gora ( 15 min)