Sveti Trije kralji - Partisan Hospital Jesen

Access to starting point:
We drive into the center of Slovenska Bistrica, where at the traffic-light intersection we turn in the direction of the health home and further drive along Partizanska cesta. Next follows the drive through the town, where we continue straight; on the outskirts of the town, at the industrial zone, we direct ourselves onto the road towards Tinje, Sveti Trije kralji, and Črno jezero. Next follows an ascent on a slightly narrower asphalt road, which begins to climb and initially leads us past Lovska koča pizzeria Gams; higher up we also pass through the settlement Visole, and a few kilometers higher we arrive at Zgornje Tinje, from where we follow the signs for the ski resort Jakec - Trije kralji. We park on the parking lot at the foot of the ski resort, or near the church of sv. Treh kraljev.

Path description:
From the spot where we have parked, along the road described in the access to the starting point, we start descending diagonally and after approximately 100 lost elevation meters we arrive at an intersection from which we continue straight (right Veliko Tinje and Slovenska Bistrica). Only a few minutes further we arrive at the next intersection, where we continue straight (left uphill past Majstrova hiša the marked path continues towards Areh) and further continue on the asphalt road. A few minutes ahead a macadam road branches off to the right, leading towards the farm Lepej, but we continue in the direction towards Šumik and Areh. After the intersection, when we leave the forest, a beautiful view opens towards the aforementioned farm and valley, and on the other side of the meadow the signs for the partisan hospital Jesen direct us right downhill, where we initially walk along the edge of the forest, then the path turns left and descends through the forest to a scenic stream. For a few minutes we continue the descent along the mentioned stream, lower down we go slightly to the left and move somewhat away from the stream. Next follows a shorter crossing and we arrive at the shacks of the former hospital....where we leave the asphalt road and with the path continue left in the direction of Majstrova hiša (straight Šmartno na Pohorju).
After a short ascent on a macadam road we arrive at the mentioned house, where the asphalt ends, and we bypass the house on the right side, where the signs for Areh direct us onto a cart track. The cart track leads us through the forest and quickly brings us to another macadam road, which we follow right downhill, from it we then go left onto a cart track that leads us through the forest. During the gentle walk through the forest a path joins us from the right, which leads past the partisan hospital Jesen, but we continue straight towards Areh. A little further we leave the forest and along a somewhat overgrown path past the hunting observatory we return to the forest, where we cross two smaller streams. After the streams we follow the blazes, then we reach a road which we follow to the right. After a short easy descent we arrive at the next intersection, where we go left, immediately after the intersection right onto the marked path. The path ahead gradually enters the forest, where at the junctions we follow the blazes; when we reach the road we go left.
At the intersection a few 10 steps away we go straight, a few more 10 steps ahead we go right onto the footpath (the branch-off is not marked). Next follows an ascent on a worse trail, where there are not many blazes, but the path soon levels out and brings us to a forest road, along which we continue to the nearby junction, where the marked path from Koča na Šumiku joins us from the left.
Along the road we continue to the nearby NOB monument, from where we continue along the marked path; the path a few minutes higher joins the cart track, where we follow the blazes. Higher we cross a worse forest road, a little further we arrive at the marked junction, where the path to Žigartov vrh branches off to the left.
We continue in the mentioned direction (straight Ruška koča na Arehu) and initially still walk on a wider cart track. Further we cross the slopes towards the left; when the forest ends, in a belt of sparse young forest we continue right onto the often overgrown path, along which the blazes accompany us. After less than 5 minutes we reach another path, which we follow to the right, along it through the forest we continue to Žigartov vrh.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in June 2022 and May 2023.