Zgornja Bistrica (Center Vintgar) - Veliki vrh (on Pohorje) (via Veliko Tinje)

Access to starting point:
We drive to the center of Slovenska Bistrica, from where we go on the road in the direction of Zgornja Bistrica and Bistriški Vintgar. We further follow the signs for Bistriški Vintgar, and we park on the settled parking lot at Center Vintgar.

Path description:
From the parking lot at Center Vintgar we return to the road and we continue in the direction of Bistriški Vintgar. For a short time, we walk on the road or sidewalk, and then on the left side of the road, we notice signs for 3 Kralji, which point us to the left, on the path which over a small bridge crosses Bistrica. The path ahead ascends through the forest, and we somehow follow the better beaten path, because blazes are quite rare and faded. A little further, we by the edge of the forest ascend to the nearby cart track, where we go left, slightly downwards. We quickly reach an asphalt road and we follow it to the right, and there we are ascending through the settlement Visole. Through the settlement at the crossroads we continue straight, and when the houses end at the "transmitter" we continue slightly right, on further macadam road. We continue also past a smaller football field and with nice views on part of Štajerska we get to the next unmarked crossroad.
This time we continue slightly left, so that we bypass the nearby water storage on the left side, and the path passes into the forest and it is ascending diagonally on a cart track. When we leave the forest, by houses we reach an asphalt road, and at the nearby crossroad, we continue straight on a macadam road, so that we only cross the road towards Turiška vas na Pohorju.
By the macadam road, on which we continue on the power line pole there is a clearly visible trail blaze, and further we walk there with nice views. After few minutes, the path passes into the forest and becomes asphalted and descends to the main road which leads towards Veliko Tinje. We continue through the village, and at the crossroad, we go left, and only few steps after the crossroad we go right on stairs, on which we ascend to the church of St. Peter and Pavel, which we bypass on the left side. Behind the church, we cross the access road and we continue by the hedge and then through a meadow we return on an asphalt road, on which we ascend to an unmarked crossroad. From the crossroad, we continue on the right upper road, by which on the right we notice a blaze. Little further we get to few more houses, where we go right on a cart track which ascends diagonally above the road. Through the forest at the crossings we follow the blazes, and few minutes higher we leave the forest and we continue an ascent on the path which continues by the edge of the forest. Higher, the path turns right and returns into the forest, through which we ascend to an asphalt road which we reach at a smaller crossroad.
We continue left upwards (straight upwards on a side road we can get to the church of St. Urh, right downwards we return to Veliko Tinje.
Few minutes we are ascending on the asphalt road, and then opposite the homestead Repnik (homestead is situated in small settlement Rep), by the memorial plaque, we continue into the forest, through which we at first ascend, and then the path flattens and mostly in a gentle ascent crosses the slopes towards the left, where we get close to the road. A little further, we leave the forest and we continue right, at first by the edge of the forest, and on a smaller saddle from the right joins also an unmarked path which leads past the church of St. Urh.
Here we go a little to the left, where we cross a lane of a forest, and at the hunting observatory we for some time leave the forest. The path ahead leads us on a gentle cart track which through the forest brings us to Planina pod Šumikom, where we cross the asphalt road which leads towards Sveti Trije kralji.
We cross the main road and we continue on a side road which past the chapel brings us to the homestead Škrinjar, which we bypass on the bottom side, and before the next homestead Mlakar the blazes point us right into the forest. Next follows a little steeper ascent through the forest, where we follow the blazes, and when the path flattens from the right joins also the marked path past Močnik.
We continue straight, where follows few minutes of a light to moderate ascent, and then we already get to Hotel Jakec, above which there is the Church of Holy Three Kings.
From Church of Holy Three Kings we continue in the direction of the lake Črno jezero and the path Urškina pot, where we quickly get by the edge of the nearby ski track of the ski slope RTC Jakec - Trije kralji. The path ahead at first leads by the edge of the forest, only few meters away from the ski slope, and higher we cross the ski slope towards the right (while the ski slope operates, we cross the ski slope above the ski lift). On the other side of the ski track, the path goes a little to the right and leads us below the artificial lake.
A little after the lake we get to the connecting ski track, on which we continue the ascent (while the ski slope operates, we walk by the far left edge of the ski slope), and when few minutes higher we reach another ski track, where the marked path towards the lake Črno jezero crosses a ski slope, we still continue by the left edge, where there are also signs for path Urškina pot. Next follows few minutes of a steeper ascent and with increasingly beautiful views we get to benches on Veliki vrh, from where a nice view opens up on Pohorje and valley.
From here we can continue few more 10 meters into the forest, where there is the highest point of the peak.
The starting point - Veliko Tinje 1:20, Veliko Tinje - Sveti Trije kralji 2:00, Sveti Trije kralji 0:30.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in January and July 2022.

On the way: Visole (428m), Church of St. Peter and Paul (Veliko Tinje) (655m), Sveti Trije kralji (1181m)