Preval Vrh Ravni - Otavnik

Access to starting point:
A) First, we drive to the center of Cerkno (to here from the road Idrija - Most na Soči, or from Gorenja vas and Žiri over the mountain pass Kladje, or from Zali Log through Davča...), then we continue driving in the direction of Zakojce. Just a few meters after we have turned in the direction of Zakojce, the road towards the village Zakriž branches off to the left, through which a steep shortcut leads, while we continue on the road which continues along the stream Zapoška. Higher up, the road leads through the villages Trebenče, Gorje, then after crossing the slopes, on the upper side we bypass the village Zakriž, where the already mentioned shortcut joins. A little further, the road turns even more to the right, and after a few kilometers of crossing we arrive at the beginning of the village Jesenica, where we notice the first signs for the saddle Vrh Ravni, Kojca and Porezen, which direct us to the right. After approximately 100 m the road turns sharply right, and approximately 200 m ahead we turn left in the direction of Porezen, saddle Vrh Ravni, Zakojce... When we arrive at the saddle Vrh Ravni we park at an appropriate place by the crossroad of numerous paths.
B) From Most na Soči or Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Idrija, then after the settlement Reka, right before we cross the stream Jesenica we continue sharply left, at the next crossroad sharply right in the direction of Orehovska grapa. After a few kilometers of relatively steep road we arrive at the village Orehek, a little above the village we join the transverse road under Kojca, which we follow to the right. At the end of the village Jesenica we turn sharply left in the direction of saddle Vrh Ravni, Kojca and Porezen. After approximately 100 m the road turns sharply right, and approximately 200 m ahead we turn left in the direction of Porezen, saddle Vrh Ravni, Zakojce... When we arrive at the saddle Vrh Ravni we park at an appropriate place by the crossroad of numerous paths.
C) From Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Podbrdo, then in the settlement Grahovo ob Bači we turn in the direction of Zakojce and Bukovo. In the continuation we drive for quite some time on a winding and ascending road, then at the marked crossroad we continue left in the direction of Zakojce (right Cerkno, Bukovo, Jesenica...). From Zakojce we follow the signs for saddle Vrh Ravni, where we then park at an appropriate place.
D) First, we drive to Podbrdo, then we continue driving towards Tolmin. In the settlement Hudajužna we leave the main road, then we continue driving on a steep road towards Zakojce. When higher up we reach the main road we follow it to the left (right Bukovo), along it we quickly arrive at the village Zakojce. From Zakojce we follow the signs for saddle Vrh Ravni, where we then park at an appropriate place.

Path description:
From the saddle Vrh Ravni we continue in the direction of Porezen and mountain pasture Otavnik and continue the path on an ascending macadam road which further leads on the slopes of the peak Na krogu (1050 m). Higher, the road passes on the northern slopes of Ritovščica (1156 m), where at a smaller quarry it changes into a wide cart track. Next follows a transverse ascent through the forest, which leads us above the bed of Otavnik, then we step out of the forest, where in front of us we notice a hunting cottage, to which we ascend in two hairpin turns.
From the hunting cottage we continue on the cart track which ascends to the southern ridge of Otavnik. The mentioned, partly forested ridge we soon leave because the path turns slightly to the left, where it then ascends transversely across an increasingly panoramic pasture. After a few minutes of transverse ascent we arrive at the upper part of the mountain pasture Otavnik, where on the left we notice a hunting observatory, straight across the ridge a shepherd hut.
On the mountain pasture, at the signposts we continue right on pathless terrain, on which in approximately 5 minutes we ascend to the summit of Otavnik.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in the year 2015 (December).

On the way: Lovska koča LD Otavnik (1090m), Planina Otavnik (1268m)