Osilnica - Bezgarska planina

Access to starting point:
A) First, we drive to Ribnica, and then we continue driving towards Kočevje. After Dolenja vas we continue right in the direction of Grčarice, Gotenica and Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue right in the direction of Borovca pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we once again continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in a few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude of 993 m. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, then after 19 hairpin turns and some additional kilometers of driving it brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower also to Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
B) From Kočevje we drive towards the border crossing Petrina, and then at the end of the settlement Štalcerji we continue right towards Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue left in the direction of Borovec pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in a few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude of 993 m. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, then after 19 hairpin turns and some additional kilometers of driving it brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower also to Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
C) From the border crossing Petrina we continue on the road in the direction of Osilnica. Further, we drive through the settlements Grivac, Gladloka, Kuželj, Srobotnik ob Kolpi, Mirtoviči, Bosljiva Loka, Grintovec pri Osilnici, Ložec and Ribjek to Osilnica, where in the middle of the settlement near the Mercator store we park.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue on the road which leads further towards Petrina and runs along the river Kolpa. When Osilnica ends, the path leads past a few more houses, which belong to Osilnica. Behind the house with house number Osilnica 1, over the bridge we cross a smaller stream and then right behind the bridge we continue left on a marked footpath, where after a few steps we notice the first blazes. We continue on a cart track which is gently to moderately ascending through the forest, and at some crossings we follow it in the direction of the blazes. Higher the forest ends and the path past the hunting observatory brings us to the settlement Križmani, where the path leads among some houses.
Behind the houses, we cross the asphalt road, and then we ascend straight upwards, where the path leads through a smaller orchard. A little further, where the meadow becomes more overgrown, the path turns right and passes into the forest. For a few minutes we ascend through the forest, then over a partly overgrown meadow we ascend to the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which we only cross. We continue past the firewood storage, then through a short stretch of forest, we reach the local road which leads towards the settlement Bezgovica. When we reach the mentioned village, at the smaller crossroad we continue slightly right, and then with nice views on Sveta Gora and Gorski Kotar we get to the upper part of the village, where among houses we follow the blazes. Behind the last house, we notice hiking signposts, which point us to the hillside, on the path which passes into the forest, through which we gradually start ascending more steeply. After a short ascent from the right joins also the path from the 18th hairpin turn of the road on Strma Reber, and we continue straight on the steeper path, which higher in a traverse ascent brings us to a steep dell, through which we continue the ascent. Higher the blazes from the churned-up dell lead left on the path which passes along the edge of an occasionally precipitous ridge. We continue the ascent on an occasionally somewhat more overgrown path, which retreats from the precipices somewhat to the right, and occasionally some views open up on the surrounding hills. A few minutes higher we reach a wide cart track, which we follow to the left, and walk along it to the spot where it splits into two parts.
We continue on the slightly left cart track (the right cart track bypasses Bezgarska planina and leads towards the mountain pass Strma Reber), which quickly leads us out of the forest to the lower part of Bezgarska planina. When we reach the mountain pasture, we walk across the meadow in a minute or two to the larger hunting observatory.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in the year 2015 (August).

On the way: Križmani (455m), Bezgovica (565m)

Trip can be extended to: Loška stena (1 h 40 min) , Firstov rep (1 h 15 min) , Cerk (1 h 55 min)