Srednja vas - Tosc (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 to the Upper Bohinj Valley. At the junction here, continue left (right Pokljuka) and follow the road further to Srednja vas. 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 at a suitable place by the school or church.

Route description:
From the parking lot by the church, we descend a few steps to the primary school, from there continue towards the viewpoint at Kres. The path further leads along a narrower asphalt road, along which we quickly reach a larger water tank, where we notice signs for Uskovnica. Continue along the gravel road, which enters the forest, at the right bend we temporarily exit the forest and a nice view opens up to Rudnica and part of the Upper Bohinj Valley. Continue along the gravel road, which 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 the Lower Bohinj Mountains in the background, now called Bohinjsko-Tolminske gore. We continue briefly along the road, then at the end of a gentle left bend, signs for Uskovnica direct us right onto a gravel road that leads us through forest, a belt of bushes, higher again through forest. A few minutes higher we reach the gravel road again, but this time we leave it immediately, as we continue in the direction of the hiking path to Uskovnica. The gravel road soon forks, we continue on the left one, where we notice the mark on the electricity pole. For a while we continue along the power line and follow the marks. Soon a path branches left leading to Uskovnica via Lom, we continue on 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 we reach a newer gravel road 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, continue on the left upper path, which has signs for Uskovnica and 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 "sir, skuta, milk and more").
Continue again towards Uskovnica, 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 just behind the water trough and continue left onto the gravel road towards Koča na Uskovnici. After about 50 meters of ascent along the gravel road, we reach Koča na Uskovnici.
From the hut, 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 arrive at a junction or fork by the chapel of Mary Queen of Peace at Uskovnica.
Behind the chapel, continue left (straight Planina Konjščica, right Rudno polje) along the gentle 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 initially a wide gravel road. The gravel road, which further begins to ascend moderately, has a few junctions, we follow it towards Vodnikov dom at Veliko polje and Triglav. Higher, the gravel road, which mostly runs through forest, turns into a footpath, which quickly brings us to a pleasant spring under Mesnova glava, called Štapce. At the spring, continue straight (right hunting hut) and continue the ascent along the gentle path, which a bit further brings us to steep slopes. Already soon after arriving at the steep slopes, fixed protection aids us in 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 rises steeply for short periods and then descends again. In the last part of the traverse, we cross several 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 the softer world of grass.
A few minutes of easy walking follow and the path brings us to the abandoned Planina Spodnji Tosc. The path further begins to ascend moderately and soon brings us to a small junction, where we continue sharply right (straight old, partially abandoned path) along the well-traceable path. The path further begins to ascend ever more steeply and quickly brings us from the belt of sparse forest into the bushes, where it begins to turn more to the left. The path soon levels out and brings us from the bushes to grassy slopes, over which in a few minutes of further walking we ascend to the Pokljuka - Triglav path.
Follow the mentioned path right (left Triglav), which after a few steps brings us to the place where the path to Tosc branches left. Continue towards Tosc (the branch is marked) along the unmarked but well-traceable path that begins to ascend ever more steeply over the grassy slopes of Tosc.
The increasingly steep path slowly turns somewhat to the right, then turns sharply left and almost completely levels out. A traverse of a short steep slope follows, then the path brings us to less steep slopes, where it begins to gradually disappear. The less visible little path then turns slightly right and begins to ascend somewhat more steeply. After a few minutes of ascent, we step onto the indistinct Mali Tosc, from which a view of Tosc opens up. A short descent follows and the path past a larger sinkhole, which we bypass on the right side, brings us to the summit foot of Tosc. The path further moderately ascends over a pleasant grassy slope and after a few minutes of further walking brings us to the summit of Tosc.
Orientation in fog is quite difficult.
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 - Mali Tosc 0:50, Mali Tosc - Tosc 0:15.

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), Mali Tosc (2233m)

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