Poljana (Završnica) - Prešernova koča na Stolu (Žirovniška pot)

Access to starting point:
From the highway Ljubljana - Jesenice, we take the exit Lesce and follow the road ahead in the direction of Žirovnica and Jesenice. After a few km of driving, we will get to a crossroads, where the road to Žirovnica and Moste branches off to the right (from the direction of Jesenice, left). Only a few meters ahead, at the next crossroads, we turn left to Moste (right Žirovnica). Further on, we drive past a monument to fallen fighters, where the road starts ascending a hill under the railway track. At the top of the hill, we turn right (at the sign Vila Karin), but we continue straight towards Završniško jezero and Valvasorjev dom. The road then flattens and brings us to a crossroads, where the road to Valvasorjev dom branches off to the left. Here we continue straight towards Završnica and then after 100 m park on a well-maintained asphalt parking lot.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we return on the asphalt road to the crossroads, from there we continue in the direction of Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom and Potoška planina. From the crossroads, for some time we walk on a scenic macadam road, then blazes and signs for Valvasorjev dom direct us left onto a marked footpath, which gently descends to the nearby stream Rečica. Over the footbridge we cross the mentioned stream, then we arrive at a larger meadow, over which we gently ascend slightly to the left. On the other side of the meadow, the path goes into the forest and turns into a relatively steep cart track, on which we ascend to an indistinct saddle between the peaks Sivo rebro and Smolnik.
From here we continue only briefly on the cart track, then signs direct us right onto a footpath, which ascends transversely over a short rough slope. The well-maintained path then turns left and continues ascending transversely over occasionally steeper slopes of the peak Smolnik. The quite wide path all the time brings us higher to a forest road, which we only cross. On the other side of the road we continue right and continue the ascent on a poorly marked path, which higher also has some unmarked shortcuts. We follow this path, which in the upper part due to numerous small paths is also somewhat orientationally more difficult, all the way to Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom.
From Valvasorjev dom we head right onto the footpath in the direction of Stol. The path soon enters the forest, where it gently ascends and brings us to a smaller junction, where we continue right. The path then brings us out of the forest, where it crosses the slopes below Monštranca. We follow this gentle and partly scenic path, which somewhat further crosses a short strip of forest, to the junction on Žirovniška planina.
We continue left in the direction of »Stol - Žirovniška pot« (slightly right Stol Zabreška pot) on the path, which a little higher enters dense forest, where it continues for the next 10 minutes. The forest then thins out, the path passes among bushes, through which it then ascends all the way to the next strip of forest. When we step into the forest again, we will come to a pile of stacked logs and above them a sign that "asks" us, if possible, to carry one with us to Prešernova koča. Somewhat further we step out of the forest, along the edge of which we then ascend more steeply. Higher the path turns somewhat left and crosses a short slightly exposed grassy slope. The path then gently flattens for a short time and brings us to a pleasant resting place, from which a nice view of Gorenjska opens up.
The path ahead ascends steeply again, this time on a slope that is mostly overgrown with dwarf pines. Higher the path turns slightly right and brings us from the dwarf pines onto grassy slopes, where we also reach a less noticeable junction. We continue slightly right (left Potoški Stol and Vajnež) on the still relatively steep path, which soon turns onto the ridge of Mali Stol. We follow this increasingly scenic path, which higher leads past a memorial plaque, all the way to Prešernova koča na Stolu.

On the way: Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom mountain hut (1181m)

Trip can be extended to: Hochstuhl/Stol