Zgornja Polskava - Ruška koča na Arehu (via Kočna)

Access to starting point:
From the highway exit Slovenska Bistrica-north, we head towards Slov. Bistrica and at the crossroads Slov. Bistrica-Maribor we turn right on the old road to Maribor to the village Zg. Polskava. In the center of Zg. Polskava (opposite the post office) there is a parking lot, where we can park in front of the KUD on Mladinska ul. 12.

Path description:
We start from the signboard of PD Pohorje in the center of the settlement Zg. Polskava (Mladinska ul. 12), over the bridge and along the river Polskava we follow the blazes on the regional road to a junction, where we turn left on the road to Kočno. At a sharp bend we follow the blaze to the left on a forest path to the road, which leads us to the village Kočno, one of the most beautiful villages in Slovenia. Through the village we can see an open-air museum at every farmstead.
On the road we follow the blazes to the forest, where at a sharp bend we turn right into the forest to the ruins of Gromberg Castle. At the castle we turn left on the marked path and then back to the road. We continue to the chapel, where we turn right from the road through the forest to the church of St. Martin.
At the end of the church of St. Martin we turn right, through the village Šmartno na Pohorju, on the road past the Dovnik inn to the junction for Bojtina and Frajhajm.
We turn right through the forest to the road and follow the blazes to a sharp bend, continuing through the forest to the cross by the road. We must pay attention to the blaze on the right side of the pasture, where we head diagonally along the edge of the pasture from under the chapel of St. Ursula to the forest, then descend to the Polskava River and cross the footbridge. There follows a steep ascent from the forest to a meadow, then steeply again into the forest. From the forest we arrive at the Three Churches, where a wooden holiday home now stands, but the path leads us right onto the forest track almost to the top. Before the top on the left there is a marked and signposted path to the source of the Polskava River (wooden trough), where you can fill up with clean, energy-rich water from under Žigartov vrh; there and back is a couple of minutes' walk. We continue straight along the track and after ten minutes we emerge from the forest by a holiday home to the church of St. Areh, where the Ruška mountain hut is located and which is our goal.

On the way: Reka Polskava (338m), Muzej na prostem - vas Kočno (402m), Grad Gromberg (427m), Cerkev sv. Martina (774m), Gasilski dom Šmartno na Pohorju (773m), Cerkev sv. Uršule (1006m), Izvir reke Polskave (1204m), Ruška koča na Arehu mountain hut (1246m), Cerkev sv. Areha (1246m)