Srednja vas - Vernar (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, turn sharply right towards Pokljuka. After a short ascent, the road levels out and quickly brings us to the Upper Bohinj Valley. At the junction, continue left (right Pokljuka) and follow the road 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 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 continue towards the viewpoint at Kres. The path ahead leads along a narrower asphalt road, along which we quickly reach a larger water tank, where we notice signs for Uskovnica. We continue along the cart track, 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. We continue along the cart track, which leads through a somewhat narrower passage, then in a traverse ascent to the point 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, the Upper Bohinj Valley, and the 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, the signs for Uskovnica direct us right onto a cart track that leads through forest, a belt of shrubs, and higher 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, and we take the left one, where we notice the mark on the electricity pole. We continue for a while along the power line and follow the marks. Soon a path branches left leading to Uskovnica via Lom, but we continue on the path that turns slightly right and leads to the steep slopes of the area called Za Ribnico (Ribnica is the 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, and the path continues traversing the slopes to the right. A bit further, at a small junction, we continue along the upper left path, which has signs for Uskovnica and is visibly better trodden. We then ascend somewhat more steeply along the path, from which a bit higher an unmarked path branches towards Lom (sign says "cheese, curd, milk and more").
We continue towards Uskovnica again, then in a few minutes reach the gravel road (we reach it 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 Lom parking lot. The easy gravel road quickly takes us to the weekend houses at Uskovnica, then we leave it just 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, Draškov vrh, Viševnik, Vodnikov dom, Rudno polje, and Praprotnica along the path that first crosses a pasture fence, then quickly joins a gravel road, which we follow right. The road then leads between undulating meadows, then after crossing the next fence, we quickly reach a junction or crossroads by the chapel of Mary Queen of Peace at Uskovnica.
Beyond the chapel, we continue left (straight to Planina Konjščica, right to Rudno polje) along the flat road that leads across the extensive meadows of Uskovnica, then the path brings us to the edge of the forest, where it begins to turn into an initially wide cart track. The cart track, which now begins to ascend moderately, has a few junctions, but we follow it towards Vodnikov dom at Velem polje and Triglav. Higher up, the cart track, which mostly runs through forest, turns into a footpath, which quickly brings us to a pleasant spring below Mesnova glava, called Štapce. At the spring, we continue straight (right hunters' hut) and continue the ascent along an easy path that brings us a bit further to steep slopes. Soon after reaching the steep slopes, fixed protection helps us cross a 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 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), beyond 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-trodden path. The path ahead begins to ascend ever more steeply and quickly takes us from a belt of sparse forest into dwarf pines, where it starts turning more to the left. The path soon flattens and from the dwarf pines brings us to grassy slopes, across which in a few more minutes of 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 crosses a short belt of sparse forest, beyond which we reach 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 beware of 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 about ten minutes of walking follow without major ascents or descents, and we arrive at Vodnikov dom at Velem polje.
At Vodnikov dom, we head right towards Bohinjska vratca and Krma (straight Triglav), where we first ascend past the botanical garden, then begin to ascend steeply along steep, mostly grassy slopes between Vernar on the left and Tosc on the right. Higher up, we reach an indistinct little valley, along which in a few minutes we ascend to Bohinjska vratca, from where a nice view opens towards Krma.
From Bohinjska vratca, we continue left onto an unmarked trail that leads uphill along the grassy slope. The grassy slope becomes steeper and steeper and is especially very dangerous for slipping when wet. We follow the steep trail, which runs slightly left of the ridge, all the way to the grassy subpeak at 2183 m.
From the subpeak, we continue along the ridge and first descend steeply a few meters along the rocky slope. We continue along the ridge, which becomes quite narrow and exposed. We walk mostly on the left side of the ridge, and the direction is also indicated by some cairns. A few very short scrambling sections (I-II grade) follow, and we are already at the summit of Vernar.
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 - Bohinjska vratca 0:25, Bohinjska vratca - Vernar 0:50.

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), Bohinjska vratca (1975m)

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