Sveti Trije kralji - Ruška koča na Arehu

Access to starting point:
We drive to the center of Slovenska Bistrica, where at the traffic-light intersection we turn in the direction of the health home and continue driving along Partizanska cesta. Driving through the town follows, where we continue straight, on the edge of the town at the industrial zone we head to the road towards Tinje, Holy Three Kings and Black Lake. An ascent follows on a somewhat narrower asphalt road, which begins to ascend and initially leads past Lovska koča pizzeria Gams, higher we go through the settlement Visole as well, and a few kilometers higher we arrive at Zgornje Tinje, from where we follow the signs for the ski center Jakec - Three Kings. We park on the parking lot at the foot of the ski center, or near the church of the Holy Three Kings.

Path description:
From the place where we parked, along the road described in the access to the starting point we begin to descend diagonally and after approximately 100 meters of elevation lost we arrive at a crossroad from which we continue straight (right Veliko Tinje and Slovenska Bistrica). Just a few minutes further we arrive at the next crossroad, where we leave the asphalt road and continue left with the path 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 signs for Areh direct us to a cart track. The cart track leads us through the forest and quickly brings us to another macadam road, which we follow right downwards, 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, and we continue straight towards Areh. A little further we leave the forest and on 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 shorter easy descent we arrive at the next crossroad, where we go left, immediately after the crossroad 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 crossroad a few dozen steps away we go straight, a few dozen steps further we go right onto the footpath (the branch-off is not marked). This is followed by an ascent on a poorer path, where there are not many blazes, the path soon levels out and brings us to a forest road, along which we continue to the nearby junction, where a 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 on the marked path, the path a few minutes higher joins a cart track, where we follow the blazes. Higher we cross a poorer forest road, a little further we arrive at a marked junction, where the path to Žigartov vrh branches off to the left, and we continue straight. The path ahead descends somewhat and brings us to a poorer road, along which we continue the crossing. This is followed by crossing Žigartov vrh, where a short path to the source of Polskava branches off to the right, and we continue straight to the crossroad, where we join a wider macadam road, where we go right (from the left a somewhat longer path joins us, which leads over Žigartov vrh).
The path ahead leads us for a few minutes through the forest, when we leave the forest we reach a larger parking lot by Hotel Areh. At the end of the parking lot we go right and in one minute of further walking we arrive at Ruška koča na Arehu.
The description refers to the condition in June 2022 and the pictures are from May 2022 and June 2022.

On the way: Majstrova hiša (1080m), Tinčeva bajta (1115m)