Srednja vas - Dom Planika (Za Ribnico and via Planina Spodnji Tosc)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana-Jesenice motorway, take the Lesce exit and follow the road towards Bled and further towards Bohinjska Bistrica. Just before Bohinjska Bistrica, at the settlement of Bitnje, continue sharply right towards Pokljuka. After a short ascent, the road levels out and quickly brings us into the Upper Bohinj Valley. Here at the intersection, continue left (right Pokljuka) and follow the road further to Srednja vas. Here in the second part of the village, notice the signs for the church of St. Martin, which direct us right onto a narrower and quite steep road, along which we quickly arrive at the church and primary school. Park in a suitable place next to the school or church.

Route description:
From the parking lot at the church, we descend a few steps to the primary school, from there we continue towards the viewpoint at Kres. The path ahead leads along a narrow asphalt road, along which we soon reach a larger water reservoir, where we notice signs for Uskovnica. We continue along the cart track that enters the forest, at the right bend we temporarily leave the forest and a nice view opens to Rudnica and part of the Upper Bohinj Valley. We continue along the cart track that leads us through a somewhat narrower passage, then in a traverse ascent to the place where we reach the road leading to Uskovnica. We reach the road exactly at the nicely arranged viewpoint at Kres, from which a view opens towards Srednja vas, Upper Bohinj Valley and Lower Bohinj Mountains in the background, now called Bohinj-Tolmin Mountains. We continue briefly along the road, then at the end of a gentle left bend, signs for Uskovnica direct us right onto a cart track that leads through forest, a strip of bushes, higher up again through forest. A few minutes higher we reach the gravel road again, but this time we leave it immediately, as we continue along the hiking path to Uskovnica. The cart track soon forks, we take the left one, where we notice the mark on the power line pole. For a while we continue along the power line and follow the marks. Soon a path branches left to Uskovnica via Lom, we continue along the path that turns slightly right and leads to the steep slopes of the area called Za Ribnico (Ribnica is a stream deep below us). Higher up we reach a newer cart track or logging trail and follow it right. The newer logging trail ends after a few minutes, the path continues traversing the slopes to the right. A bit further, at a small junction, we continue along the left upper path, next to which there are signs for Uskovnica and which is visibly better trodden. Further on we ascend somewhat more steeply along the path, from which a bit higher an unmarked path branches towards Lom (sign says "cheese, cottage cheese, milk and more").
We continue towards Uskovnica again, then in a few minutes we reach the gravel road (we reach the road where it is already closed to public traffic), which we follow right. When we step onto the road, we join the path from Stara Fužina, the path from Srednja vas via Lom and the path from the starting point or parking lot Lom. The gentle gravel road quickly brings us to the weekend houses at Uskovnica, then we leave it a little behind the water trough and continue left onto the cart track towards Koča na Uskovnici. After about 50 meters of ascent along the cart track, we reach Koča na Uskovnici.
From the hut we continue towards Tosc, Draški vrh, Viševnik, Vodnikov dom, Rudno polje and Praprotnica along the path that first crosses the pasture fence, then quickly joins the gravel road, which we follow right. The road then leads us between hummocky meadows, then after crossing the next fence we quickly reach a junction or crossroads by the chapel of Mary Queen of Peace at Uskovnica.
Behind the chapel we continue left (straight to planina Konjščica, right Rudno polje) along the flat road that leads us across extensive meadows of Uskovnica, then the path brings us to the edge of the forest, where it begins to turn into a initially wide cart track. The cart track, which further on begins to ascend moderately, has a few junctions, we follow it towards Vodnikov dom at Velo polje and Triglav. Higher up the cart track, which mostly runs through forest, turns into a hiking path, which quickly brings us to a pleasant spring below Mesnova glava called Štapce. At the spring we continue straight (right hunting lodge) and continue the ascent along a gentle path that a bit further brings us to steep slopes. Already soon after arriving at the steep slopes, fixed protection helps us when crossing the steep gully. The path continues along relatively steep slopes that are especially slippery when wet. During the traverse of the steep slopes, the path several times ascends steeply for a short time and then descends again. In the last part of the traverse we cross some very steep gullies, over which the path is locally completely destroyed (high risk of slipping). The traverse ends at a larger torrent (usually a spring) behind which we enter a softer grassy world.
A few minutes of easy walking follow and the path brings us to the abandoned planina Spodnji Tosc. The path ahead begins to ascend moderately and soon brings us to a small junction, where we continue sharply right (straight old, partly abandoned path) along a well-traceable path. The path ahead begins to ascend ever more steeply and quickly brings us from the strip of sparse forest into the bushes, where it begins to turn more to the left. The path soon flattens and brings us from the bushes to grassy slopes, across which in a few minutes of further walking we ascend to the Pokljuka-Triglav path, where we turn left.
The path ahead traverses the southern slopes of Tosc, then in a slight descent traverses a short strip of sparse forest, behind which we arrive at the steep slopes of Tosc. A bit further the path along an artificially made wide ledge in a slight descent traverses the precipitous slopes of the same mountain. Since the path is quite wide it does not cause problems (but be careful due to falling rocks, rockfall in 2008). The path then ascends slightly again and brings us to a junction, where we continue right towards Vodnikov dom (sharply left Voje and Stara Fužina, slightly left Velo polje). Another approximately ten minutes of walking follow without major ascents or descents and we arrive at Vodnikov dom at Velo polje, where there is the next junction.
Here too we continue straight towards Triglav, the path begins to ascend transversely along the slopes of Vernar, higher up it also becomes technically demanding. Some traversing follows, where a wire cable assists us, higher up we reach a steep step, where with the help of numerous pegs and wire cable we ascend along stone steps.
The path ahead flattens, the slope becomes less steep and near Konjsko sedlo also somewhat more grassy.
We easily descend to Konjsko sedlo, from the marked junction at the saddle we head left towards Dom Planika pod Triglavom (straight Kredarica and Dom Valentina Staniča, right Krma) and begin a fairly steep ascent to the west. For a while we approach Mokra skala (2266 m), then the path turns right and leads onto an indistinct ridge, where it temporarily flattens. The marked path higher up bypasses a small cirque on the right side, then begins to turn to the left. Another approximately ten minutes of ascent follow and with nice views of the Triglav massif and surrounding mountains we arrive at Dom Planika pod Triglavom.
Srednja vas - Koča na Uskovnici 1:40, Koča na Uskovnici - kapelica na Uskovnici 0:05, kapelica na Uskovnici - Štapce 0:50, Štapce - Planina Spodnji Tosc 1:15, Planina Spodnji Tosc - Planina Zgornji Tosc 0:30, Planina Zgornji Tosc - Na Zagonu 0:20, Na Zagonu - Vodnikov dom 0:20, Vodnikov dom - Konjsko sedlo 0:30, Konjsko sedlo - Planika 1:00.

Along the route: Razgledišče na Kresu (619m), Koča na Uskovnici (1154m), Kapela Kraljice miru na Uskovnici (1177m), Izvir Štapce (1452m), Planina Spodnji Tosc (1663m), Planina Zgornji Tosc (1849m), Na Zagonu (1819m), Vodnikov dom (1817m), Konjsko sedlo (2020m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Triglavski dom na Kredarici, Triglav (1 h 15 min)

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