Preval Vrh Ravni - Planina 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 mountain pass Kladje, or from Zali Log through Davča...), and 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, but we continue on the road which continues along the stream Zapoška. Higher, the road leads through villages Trebenče, Gorje, and then after crossing the slopes, on the upper side we bypass 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 traversing we arrive at the beginning of the village Jesenica, where we notice the first signs for 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 further we turn left in the direction of Porezen, saddle Vrh Ravni, Zakojce... When we arrive at saddle Vrh Ravni we park on an appropriate place at the crossroads of numerous paths.
B) From Most na Soči or Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Idrija, and after the settlement Reka, right before we cross the stream Jesenica we continue sharply left, and at the next crossroads sharply right in the direction of Orehovška 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 below 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 further we turn left in the direction of Porezen, saddle Vrh Ravni, Zakojce... When we arrive at saddle Vrh Ravni we park on an appropriate place at the crossroads of numerous paths.
C) From Bača pri Modreju we drive towards Podbrdo, and then in the settlement Grahovo ob Bači we turn in the direction of Zakojce and Bukovo. We continue for quite some time on a winding and ascending road, and then at the marked crossroads 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 on an appropriate place.
D) First, we drive to Podbrdo, and then we continue driving towards Tolmin. In the settlement Hudajužna we leave the main road, and then we continue driving on a steep road towards Zakojca. When higher up we reach the main road we follow it to the left (right Bukovo), along which we quickly arrive at the village Zakojca. From Zakojce we follow the signs for saddle Vrh Ravni, where we then park on an appropriate place.

Path description:
From the saddle Vrh Ravni we continue in the direction of Porezen and mountain pasture Otavnik on an ascending macadam road, which further leads us along the slopes of the peak Na krogu (1050 m). Higher, the road passes to the northern slopes of Ritovščica (1156 m), where at a smaller quarry it changes into a wide cart track. This is followed by a transverse ascent through the forest, which leads us above the bed of Otavnik, then we step out of the forest, where ahead of us we see 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 aforementioned ridge, partly covered with forest, we soon leave, as the path turns slightly to the left, then ascending transversely across increasingly panoramic pasture. After a few minutes of transverse ascent we arrive at the upper part of mountain pasture Otavnik, where on the left we notice a hunting observation post, straight ahead on the other side of the ridge a shepherd's hut.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in the year 2015 (December).

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

Trip can be extended to: Otavnik , Dom na Poreznu , Porezen