Soča - Bavški Grintavec (via Vrh Brda)

Access to starting point:
From Trenta or Bovec we drive to the village of Soča, where we notice a church by the road. The start of the hiking trail is 200-300 m from the church towards Trenta, where we notice signposts and a small parking lot for 2-3 cars by the road.

Route description:
From the church in the village of Soča we continue along the main road towards Trenta. After a little more than 200 meters we reach a small chapel, in front of which we notice red mountain signposts directing us left uphill towards Bavški Grintavec. The path immediately begins to ascend steeply through the forest and in the first part mostly crosses to the right. Higher up we reach a junction where we continue left along the marked path. Just a few minutes later we step out of the forest onto partially overgrown meadows of the once extremely picturesque but today abandoned hamlet of Lemovje, which with its old houses and ruins today more resembles a mountain pasture.
Here the path from the hamlet V Klancu (path past the Žot farm) joins from the right, but we continue slightly left and follow the signs for Bavški Grintavec. On this section we initially walk along the edge of the meadow, then approach an overgrown ravine where there is a small spring that often dries up on dry days. The path soon turns right and then ascends steeply again through the forest and partly across steep grassy slopes. Higher up the path turns slightly left and the steepness begins to ease. This is followed by crossing the steep, mostly southern slopes of the peak Kol (1924 m), which leads us to Planina nad Sočo, where a hunting hut stands.
A few meters above the hunting hut we leave the marked path and head left in a northwesterly direction. The trail in this section is mostly not visible. Through a short stretch of forest we reach a hunting observation post, where we continue right uphill. For a short time we ascend along the grassy slope, then cross it to the left side and continue westwards. We continue through a stretch of forest where we may notice an otherwise poorly trodden path. We continue westwards and when the forest ends and is replaced by dwarf pine we become more attentive, as at a poorly visible junction we stop crossing the slope westwards and turn sharply right onto the also poorly trodden path.
Here we walk northeastwards mostly through dwarf pine. Later the path becomes more obvious and we cross two short steeper slopes, after which the path slowly turns northwards. We follow the path or clearing through the dwarf pine. Later we emerge from the dwarf pine onto a kind of plateau with less dwarf pine where the scree ends.
Here we continue slightly right along the scree. To the left a path leads towards Vrh Leh.
For some time we walk northeastwards along the right arm of the scree. We continue following the scree, which turns to the left side. Somewhat higher we continue left and reach the left arm of the scree. We ascend again along the scree; higher up, when the scree ends, we continue along a grassy valley towards the ridge. We reach the ridge at a small saddle slightly right of Vrh Ruš, where we also reach the marked path that leads along the ridge towards Bavški Grintavec.
On the ridge we continue right along the marked path and then ascend along the ridge, which is still mostly grassy at first. Higher up the ridge becomes quite steep on the left northern side, so if walking along the edge of the ridge some extra caution is required. Later the ridge becomes more rocky and leads us to Vrh Brda, on which there is a cairn.
From the summit we continue along the ridge and first descend slightly. The path then moves to the right southern side of the ridge and ascends slightly diagonally across grassy terrain. The path soon turns left and ascends again towards the ridge. Later we again walk along a scenic and rockier ridge that leads us to the pre-summit of Mali Grintavec, where we will notice a somewhat larger cairn.
From the pre-summit we continue along the marked path, which becomes somewhat more demanding. We descend along the ridge, which for a short section becomes very narrow. The path is not secured so great caution is required. The path then ascends again and for a short time the ridge remains narrow, then widens slightly and leads us to the summit of Mali Grintavec.
From the summit we descend for a short time along the ridge, then the path turns right downhill across quite gravelly terrain. Due to the gravel, some caution is required during the descent. The path then turns left and crosses a steeper slope and leads us to a scree field. For a short time we ascend diagonally across the scree, then follows an ascent across a quite steep slope towards the ridge. When we get quite close to the ridge, there follow several ascents across a very steep rocky slope. The path is not secured so great caution is required. The path then leads us along the ridge, which is still quite narrow and occasionally exposed. In the final section the ridge becomes somewhat less demanding and we soon join the marked path from the village of Soča. A little after that the secured path from Sedlo Kanja also joins from the left. Along the scenic ridge path we then quickly reach the summit of Bavški Grintavec.

Along the route: Lemovje (856m), Planina nad Sočo (1400m), Vrh Brda (2152m), Mali Grintavec (2294m)

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register