Planina Jezerca - Košutna (via planina Košutna)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana–Jesenice motorway, take the Vodice exit, then continue driving to the first traffic-light intersection in Vodice, where you continue left in the direction of Cerklje na Gorenjskem and Brnik. When you reach the main roundabout in Spodnji Brnik, continue driving in the direction of Cerklje and the Krvavec ski slopes. At the end of the settlement of Cerklje na Gorenjskem, leave the main road, which continues towards Velesovo and Visoko, and continue slightly right onto the road towards the Krvavec ski slopes. Continuing on, you reach the village of Grad, where signs for the settlement of Ambrož pod Krvavcem direct you right onto a steep asphalt road (straight ahead: lower station of the monocable gondola to Krvavec and Štefanja Gora). When the gradient on the steep road eases somewhat, you will arrive at an intersection, where you continue left in the direction of the settlement of Ambrož pod Krvavcem (straight ahead: settlements of Ravne, Apno and Šenturška Gora). A little further on, the road temporarily descends slightly, then climbs through occasionally very scenic slopes. Higher up, you reach Ambrož pod Krvavcem, where you pass the church of St. Ambrož and the tourist farm Pr Ambružarju on the left side. From the tourist farm onwards, the road enters the forest and climbs through it all the way to the Jezerca mountain pasture, where there is a large arranged parking lot.
B) From the Jesenice–Ljubljana motorway, take the Kranj–East exit, then continue driving towards Brnik, Komenda and Mengeš. When you reach the main roundabout in Spodnji Brnik, continue driving in the direction of Cerklje and the Krvavec ski slopes. At the end of the settlement of Cerklje na Gorenjskem, leave the main road, which continues towards Velesovo and Visoko, and continue slightly right onto the road towards the Krvavec ski slopes. Continuing on, you reach the village of Grad, where signs for the settlement of Ambrož pod Krvavcem direct you right onto a steep asphalt road (straight ahead: lower station of the monocable gondola to Krvavec and Štefanja Gora). When the gradient on the steep road eases somewhat, you will arrive at an intersection, where you continue left in the direction of the settlement of Ambrož pod Krvavcem (straight ahead: settlements of Ravne, Apno and Šenturška Gora). A little further on, the road temporarily descends slightly, then climbs through occasionally very scenic slopes. Higher up, you reach Ambrož pod Krvavcem, where you pass the church of St. Ambrož and the tourist farm Pr Ambružarju on the left side. From the tourist farm onwards, the road enters the forest and climbs through it all the way to the Jezerca mountain pasture, where there is a large arranged parking lot.

Path description:
At the end of the parking lot, where the road turns left but a road branches off to the right towards the nearby mountain pasture Jezerca, we will notice red mountain signposts that direct us straight onto a marked footpath in the direction of Kriška planina, Vrh Korena, Košutna, Kompotela and Mokrica, which climbs through the pastures of the aforementioned mountain pasture. After a short ascent, we reach a cart track, which we follow to the left, crossing the slopes of Kržišče (1658 m). The cart track along which we are walking soon splits into two parts, and we continue straight along the lower one. Temporarily, a nice view opens towards Kranj, Škofjeloško hribovje and Storžič, then the path begins to descend gently. A few more minutes of walking follow, then we arrive at the parking lot at the lower part of Kriška planina mountain pasture.
From the parking lot, we continue in the direction of the Koren mountain pasture, following a poorer gravel road that passes through an underpass beneath the ski slope. After the underpass, the marked path veers slightly left from the road, continuing parallel to it along a sort of spruce avenue. After a few minutes of gentle ascent, when we reach the eastern edge of Kriška planina mountain pasture, where there is a small watering hole for animals, we continue slightly left across the pasture fence (right: Osredek mountain pasture and Kamniški vrh), but continue the gentle ascent in roughly the same direction. Ahead, the path leaves the mountain pasture for slightly steeper slopes of Krvavec, across which we ascend diagonally to a viewpoint from which a fine view opens towards Kržišče (Pokovše), the ridge of Kamniški vrh, the Korošica valley, Velika planina, and the nearby Košutna and Veliki Zvoh.
From the viewpoint, which is a few steps to the right of the path, we begin to descend more steeply towards the hunting hut above the Korošica valley. When the descent ends and the path continues without major changes in elevation, we will arrive at a visible but poorly marked junction, where a path branches right to the aforementioned hunting hut and further towards the Korošica valley and the Kamniška Bistrica valley. At this junction, we continue slightly left and begin to ascend gently through the forest. The path quickly leaves the forest among bushes and dwarf pines, then gradually leads us across a pasture fence to the next unmarked junction, which lies right in the middle of a sharp right-hand bend.
From this hairpin bend, an unmarked path continues straight towards the Razor saddle (saddle between Krvavec and Veliki Zvoh), while we continue right on the still-marked path. A short traverse ascent follows, and the path brings us to the southern part of the Koren mountain pasture, from where a nice view opens over its central part and surrounding peaks. From the southern part of the mountain pasture, a short descent leads to the nearby shepherd's hut, which is located in the central part of the Koren mountain pasture.
Here, at the hut, a path branches slightly right (southeast direction) leading to the Košutna mountain pasture. The path first traverses the slopes almost levelly, then brings us to a technically demanding spot. The path climbs steeply over a short rocky step, where fixed safety gear assists us. The path then levels out and leads us past a cross to the Košutna mountain pasture, where there is a chapel and a shepherd's shelter.
From the mountain pasture, we continue along a less trodden path that runs on the left side of the chapel among the dwarf pines. Ahead, the path ascends gently along the moderately steep and panoramic slope of Košutna. When the path levels out completely, the path to the summit of Košutna branches off to the right (the junction is marked, but the path is wrongly marked). We follow this very poorly visible path all the way to the summit, which we reach after 15 minutes of further walking (stick to the left passages, although the markers in the lower part direct us right).
The path is marked but in places harder to follow. If we lose the path, look for a passage through the dwarf pines and take care not to get entangled in the dwarf pines.

On the way: Kriška planina (1480m), Planina Koren (1675m), Planina Košutna (1778m)