Soča - Vrh Leh

Access to starting point:
From Trenta or Bovec, we drive to the village of Soča, where we notice the church by the road. The start of the hiking trail is 200-300m from the church towards Trenta, where we notice signposts and a small parking lot for 2-3 cars by the road.

Route description:
From the church in the village of Soča, we continue along the main road in the direction of Trenta. After a little more than 200 meters, we arrive at a small chapel, in front of which we notice red alpine signposts directing us left uphill towards Bavški Grintavec. The path immediately begins to steeply ascend through the forest and in the first part mostly traverses to the right. Higher up, we reach a junction where we continue left on the marked path. Just a few minutes later, we step out of the forest onto partially overgrown meadows of the once extremely picturesque but now abandoned hamlet of Lemovje, which with its old houses and ruins today more resembles an alpine pasture.
Here, a path joins from the right starting from the hamlet V Klancu (path past the Žot farm), but we continue somewhat to the left and follow the signs for Bavški Grintavec. On this section, we first walk along the edge of the meadow, then approach an overgrown gully where there is a small spring that often dries up in dry periods. The path soon turns right and then steeply ascends again through the forest and partly over steep grassy slopes. Higher up, the path turns somewhat to the left, and the steepness begins to ease. This is followed by traversing the steep, mostly southern slopes of the peak Kol (1924 m), which brings us to Planina nad Sočo, where there is a hunting hut.
A few meters above the hunting hut, we leave the marked path and head left onto a poorly trodden trail. The trail then takes us through a short stretch of forest to a hunting observation post, where we continue right uphill. Here the path runs along the right side of the grassy slope upwards. The path then brings us back into the forest and continues ascending towards the north. The trail is very poorly visible here and slowly turns slightly to the right. A bit higher, the path turns left and takes us out of the forest. From here there is a nice view of Vrh Leh (1958 m), which is entirely covered with dwarf pines. Slightly to the right of the mentioned peak, the path (a narrow strip without dwarf pines) leading straight up is clearly visible. We then steeply ascend along this path. Just before reaching the ridge, a poorly visible path joins from the right, traversing the slope below Vrh Ruš (1995 m). Here we continue left and traverse the slope through the dwarf pines on a narrow trail. Soon we emerge from the dwarf pines onto a grassy slope and begin ascending towards a small saddle between the peaks Pri Banderi and Vrh Leh.
Just before the saddle, we turn right and after a short ascent reach Vrh Leh.

Starting point - Lemovje 1:00, Lemovje - Planina nad Sočo 1:30, Planina nad Sočo - Vrh Leh 1:20.

Along the route: Lemovje (856m), Planina nad Sočo (1400m)

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register