Preddvor - Planinska koča Iskra na Jakobu (via Planinska koča pri Franciju)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Jesenice highway, take the Kranj - east exit, then continue driving in the direction of Jezersko. When we arrive in Preddvor, leave the main road and continue left and then immediately after the small bridge over Bistrica park on the parking lot on the left side of the road. The parking lot is located on the outer side of the Jelovice complex.
B) From the Jesenice - Ljubljana highway, take the Kranj - west exit and at the first crossroad continue left. Further, drive through the underpass below the highway, then arrive at a roundabout, from which continue driving in the direction of Golnik. The path ahead leads through the settlement Mlaka pri Kranju, and at the end of the settlement continue right in the direction of the settlement Srakovlje. Next follows driving through Srakovlje, Spodnja Bela, Srednja Bela to Zgornja Bela, where continue right towards Preddvor. At the end of Preddvor, only a few 10 m before the road joins the main road Zgornje Jezersko - Kranj, we will notice by the Jelovice complex a larger macadam parking lot, where we park.

Route description:
From the parking lot first carefully cross the road, then continue on a narrower asphalt road in the direction of villages Potoče and Hrib, lake Črnava, Hotel Bor and castle Hrib and St. Jakob and Potoška gora. Immediately after crossing the road leave Preddvor and over a small bridge step into village Hrib, through which the road starts first gently, then moderately ascending. When the settlement ends, on the right soon a nice view opens towards Storžič, Cjanovci, Hudičev boršt, St. Jakob and also the hill Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske. A little further the road flattens and brings us to a crossroad, where we continue straight in the direction of Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske, Novi grad (Pusti grad), St. Jakob and Potoška gora (left lake Črnava, Hotel Bor, castle Hrib, right Preddvor Senior Citizens' Home) and continue on the ascending asphalt road. A little higher, at the chapel a path from the center of Preddvor joins from the left, we continue right, where past a few houses we arrive at the fence of Preddvor Senior Citizens' Home. Here the road turns left and leads among other things also to the nearby parking lot, we continue on the footpath that continues along the fence.
A well-marked path, which we follow in the direction of Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske, takes us into the forest, through which it starts to ascend more steeply. Through the forest we ascend steeply for a few minutes, then the path flattens and brings us to Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske, where there is also a logbook box with a logbook.
From the top follows a short descent on a forest path, then we reach a forest road, which we follow to the left, along which we lightly descend for a short time. Soon we reach the other wider road (road that leads from the parking lot near Preddvor Senior Citizens' Home and that bypasses Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske), which we cross slightly to the left, where at the entrance into the forest we notice red mountain signposts (to here also possible on the aforementioned road).
We continue in the direction of ruins of Novi grad (Pusti grad) and footpaths towards St. Jakob and Potoška gora. The path ahead moderately ascends through a forested valley, then it splits into two parts.
We continue slightly right in the direction of St. Jakob, Potoška gora and Javorov vrh (left Novi grad (Pusti grad) and Juhantova pot) on the path which from the valley gradually withdraws more and more to the right. The marked path, which occasionally ascends more steeply, further several times crosses the forest road that leads towards St. Jakob, Planinska koča pri Franciju and Planinska koča Iskra na Jakobu. When higher, at the red sign we step onto the road again, then along it we continue left. After a few 10 m a path slightly branches off to the right, which leads towards Planinska koča Iskra na Jakobu, we continue straight on the poorer road, to which a little further Juhantova pot joins. We continue further on the road, which quickly brings us to Planinska koča pri Franciju.
From the hut we return a few steps to the nearby junction, from there we continue on the marked mountain path in the direction of Planinska koča Iskra na Jakobu. The path ahead leads us through a short stretch of forest, then with nice views we reach the aforementioned mountain hut.

Along the route: Senčnica Josipine Turnograjske (570m), Planinska koča pri Franciju mountain hut (930m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Mihčeva kopišča, Baba, Potoška gora, Zavetišče v Hudičevem borštu, Javorov vrh, Dom na Kališču, Cjanovca, Srednji vrh

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