Planina Blato - Čelo (via Štapce)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana - Jesenice motorway, take the Lesce exit and follow the road towards Bled and further towards Bohinjska Bistrica. Continue driving towards Lake Bohinj (Ribčev laz), where you reach a junction; continue right towards Stara Fužina. In Stara Fužina, at the junction by the chapel, turn sharply left onto the ascending road towards Planina Blato, Planina Vogar and Voje Valley. The road then takes you to the toll and parking fee collection point; follow it further to the next junction, where you continue left (right to Voje). Follow the road to the next junction (after quite some time driving), where you turn sharply right towards Planina Blato (straight to Planina Vogar). Follow this road to the parking lot in front of Planina Blato.

Path description:
From the marked parking lot in front of Planina Blato, return a little back and head onto a wide and initially also steep cart track, along which there are signs for Planina pri Jezeru. After about ten minutes of ascent, you reach a marked junction, from where you continue left towards Planina pri Jezeru (slightly right to Planina v Lazu, and also the steep path towards Planina pri Jezeru).
Continuing on the less steep cart track, which still leads through the forest, a marked path joins from the left shortly ahead, leading past Kosijev dom on Vogar; we continue right and keep walking along the cart track. Higher up, the path leads through a narrow passage, then crosses quite steep slopes where there is a high risk of slipping in ice and snow, otherwise the path is not demanding. At the end of the steep slope, the aforementioned steep path joins inconspicuously from the right, and the cart track turns left here and enters the rather cool Pungrat valley, where we ascend through mostly spruce forest. When the path levels out higher up, another path joins from the left leading past Planina Vodični vrh; we keep slightly to the right direction and continue walking along the cart track, beside which the forest begins to thin. A few more minutes of easy walking follow, and we step onto the pastures of Planina pri Jezeru, where the Koča na Planini pri Jezeru hut stands on a small hillock.
At the hut, a path branches right towards Planina v Lazu; we continue left from the hut and descend to a marked junction, where there are also a few shepherd huts.
Choose the wider right path, along which there are signs for Planina Dedno polje and Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih (slightly left Pršivec, Planina Viševnik and Črno jezero).
We also continue ascending along the cart track, which is quite rocky on steep sections; after about ten minutes of ascent, we reach a point where a path branches left over Krištofojca towards Planina Viševnik; we continue straight along the gradually less steep cart track, which leads through increasingly sparse forest. A few more minutes of easy walking follow along the path, which later turns slightly right; when the path turns back towards the west, we already reach the edge of Planina Dedno polje, from where a short walk follows to the central part of the pasture, where there is also a marked junction by the shepherd huts.
Bypass the shepherd huts and cheese dairy on the left side and continue straight towards Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih (right valley Za Kopico). From the pasture onwards, we begin a moderate ascent, and from the left, a path from the nearby hunting hut joins almost imperceptibly. A little further, the path leads past another branch towards Planina Viševnik (path along Griva (1758 m)); we arrive at the upper edge of the vast Planina Ovčarija in the next few minutes, from where a beautiful view opens up to the Bohinj-Tolmin mountains, sometimes called the Lower Bohinj Mountains. From here, a short descent follows, and we reach a junction on the northeastern part of the pasture.
Continue slightly right towards Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih and Mala Tičarica (left Planina Viševnik), and the path soon splits again.
From the junction, follow the signs for the path over Štapce (straight path over Prodov); both lead towards Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih, the right one, which we will follow, also towards Mala Tičarica and Zelnarice. We soon leave Planina Ovčarija, and the path ascends moderately to steeply through increasingly sparse forest, which higher up is replaced by dwarf pines. After a half-hour ascent, the path levels out and takes us to Štapce, where there is the next marked junction.
Continue along the left path towards Triglavska jezera (right Mala Tičarica and Zelnarice ridge) and quickly step to the edge, where a beautiful view opens up over part of the Dolina Triglavskih jezer and the mountains surrounding that valley, with the view reaching as far as Krn.
From Štapce, first a steep, well-secured descent follows over a rocky step, then the path enters scree, down which we descend to the belt of dwarf pines. A little more descent follows, and from the left, the path over Prodov and the path from Koča pri Savici (path over Komarča) join us; we continue right and further walk along the Dvojno jezero. When we leave the lake, only a few dozen steps of easy walking separate us from Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih.
After resting and enjoying the views, continue along the path towards Dom na Komni. The path ahead leads along the right (western) side of the lake and ascends transversely. A little further, near the hunting hut (which is not visible from the path), the path curves in a semi-circle right and begins to descend gradually. Somewhere in the middle of the descent towards Planina Lopučnica, on a small flat area where the marked path we follow turns left, an unmarked path branches right towards the Zgornje Komne plateau and Gladki and Debel Lašt (the mentioned path gets lost higher up in the karst world).
When we reach Planina Lopučnica lower down, where there is a junction, continue right towards Planina Za skalo (slightly left Dom na Komni) along a poorly trodden path that crosses the slopes of the pasture towards the northwest. The path, which runs among tall grasses (in summer months), crosses a belt of sparse forest a bit higher and then turns slightly left. The path ahead ascends steeply and takes us in a few minutes of further walking into the karst world of sinkholes and scree. Here the path levels out and begins to fade in the rocky world (carefully follow the marks). On this section, a wonderful view opens up to the mountains surrounding Dolina Triglavskih jezer. Follow the marked path only to the Velika vrata pass, which we reach after a few more minutes of gentle ascent.
On the other side of Velika vrata, we leave the already little-visited path and continue right through pathless terrain. Initially, the passages between dwarf pines and scree terrain are relatively easy, as the "path" is helped by cairns, which are admittedly rare. Continue the ascent roughly towards the north, but there are no direct passages due to the karst world. Due to crevices, we occasionally have to make quite a large detour. When the "path" finally takes us to the ridge, the orienteering loops end. Continue the ascent along the increasingly panoramic ridge, and the "path" quickly takes us to the indistinct summit of Glava za Bajto.
Further, we descend slightly, then ascend along the grassy slope of Čelo to the little-known and even less visited summit.
Start - Planina pri Jezeru 1:00, Planina pri Jezeru - Planina Dedno polje 0:30, Planina Dedno polje - Planina Ovčarija 0:45, Planina Ovčarija - Štapce 0:35, Štapce - Dvojno jezero 0:20, Dvojno jezero - Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih 0:05, Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih - Planina Lopučnica 0:30, Planina Lopučnica - Velika vrata 1:45, Glava za Bajto 1:05, Glava za Bajto - Čelo 0:25.

On the way: Razpotje Pungrat (1255m), Razpotje pod Vodičnim vrhom (1449m), Koča na Planini pri Jezeru (1453m), Razpotje Krištofojca (1512m), Planina Dedno Polje (1560m), Planina Ovčarija (1660m), Štapce (1851m), Dvojno jezero (1689m), Koča pri Triglavskih jezerih (1685m), Planina Lopučnica (1558m), Velika vrata (1910m), Glava za Bajto (2131m)