Mače - Mali Grintovec (via Sveti Miklavž and Dom na Kališču)

Access to the starting point:
a) From the motorway Ljubljana - Jesenice, take the exit Kranj - East, then continue driving in the direction of Jezersko. When you reach Preddvor, leave the main road and turn left towards the centre of the town, and from there follow the signs for Mače. When you arrive in Mače, continue right at the marked crossroads (left Bašelj, straight ahead St Nicholas Church (the church is not accessible by car)) and follow the narrow road above the village, where there is a large marked parking lot.
b) From the motorway Jesenice - Ljubljana, take the exit Kranj - West and continue left at the first junction. Continue through the underpass under the motorway and then to the roundabout, from where you continue in the direction of Golnik. The road continues through Mlaka pri Kranju, and at the end of the village we turn right in the direction of Srakovlje. We then drive through Srakovlje, Spodnja Bela, Srednja Bela to Zgornja Bela, where we turn right towards Preddvor. At Preddvor we see signs for Mače, which direct us left past the primary school onto the road that climbs up to Maca. When you arrive at Mače, continue right at the marked crossroads (left Bašelj, straight ahead St Nicholas Church (the church is not accessible by car)) and follow the narrow road above the village, where there is a large marked parking lot.

Path description:
From the parking lot above Mače, follow the asphalt road back to the centre of the village, and from there continue in the direction of St. Nicholas (the branch road in the middle of the village towards St. Nicholas is well marked). From the centre of the village, continue along the cul-de-sac and begin a moderate ascent. The road soon becomes a lay-by and leads to a place where we see the next sign for St Nicholas, which this time directs us to the left, onto a road that leads us past a few yards to a nearby stream. Before reaching the stream, the next marker directs us to the right, where we continue past a garage and along a concrete steel cable. When the road has already deteriorated and descends fully to the stream Suha, cross it over a small wooden bridge. On the other side of the small bridge, climb up to the edge of the yard of a nearby dwelling house, then continue right to start climbing along a chain-link fence. After a short climb, you will reach the edge of a large hay field, from where you will have a nice view of Tolsti vrh and Storžič. Continue along the edge of the forest, or on the right-hand side of the meadow, to the point where the path returns to the forest. Once in the woods, the track widens into cart track, and we follow it for just a few 10 paces before turning right onto a well-trodden track. A little further on we reach the next cart track, which we cross diagonally to the left.
From cart track onwards, climb a moderately steep path which quickly leads out of the woods and onto a larger meadow below the Church of St Nicholas. From here it is only a short climb and we are at the church, which offers a beautiful view of the Gorenjska settlements, the Polhograjsko and Škofjeloško hribovje and, with good visibility, Triglav.
The continuation of the trail can be seen on the eastern side of the church, where we climb through a short lane of forest to a pleasant bench and a nice lookout point. Continue along the right-hand side of the bench, following a path that crosses the slopes to the right in a gentle ascent. After a few minutes, you reach cart track, which you only cross and continue your ascent along a well-trodden and still unmarked path, which climbs slightly steeper. When the path is laid, a ridge of sorts is reached, where another, relatively new cart track is reached, which is followed northwards. With occasional good views of Triglav, Mali Grintovec and elsewhere, we climb along the unmarked edge of the forest, where we leave cart track and continue slightly right on a well-traced path (because cart track is relatively new (April 2014), the beginning of the path is a little less visible), which gradually passes into the forest and a little further on it joins the usual marked trail from Mače towards Kišče. The marked path leads us a little further on to the next cart track, and we walk along it to a place where the markings lead us right up a steeper path, which takes us up in a few minutes to a beautifully landscaped lookout with a bench. After the viewpoint, we return to the forest, where we climb only gently. A little further on, you reach one of the many cart tracks at this end again, and the waymarked path continues parallel to it for a while, returning to it after a while, when the conglomeration of lane of a forest ends. With a view of Tolsti vrh and Storžič, we then walk for a further minute to a crossroads to the north of Gora, the summit of which we have passed on the left.
From the crossroads, continue along the marked path towards Kališča. Climb for a few minutes through a dense spruce forest, then join a less good road, which continues the climb for a few minutes. Leave the road when you see the continuation of the mountain path on the right (the branch is well marked). The path continues on to a steeper slope and climbs quite steeply in a number of bends. Higher up, the forest thins out and we get a nice view to the south. A wooden bench in a part of the sparse forest gives us a pleasant rest, and a little further on we are "surprised" by a working clock on a tree. Continue for a little longer, crossing to the right to reach the wooded southern ridge of Kališča. On the ridge, the path turns sharp left, then climbs in a few switchbacks to Spodnji Kališča, from where we get a nice view of Storžič.
When the trail returns to the forest above Spodnje Kališče, the trail from Laško (also the trail from Bašlja past the Košuta Hospital) joins us from the left. After a few minutes of walking through the forest, we reach a beautiful lookout point, from where a beautiful view opens up towards the nearby Dom na Kališču, Maly Grintavec, the ridge of Lanež, Krvavec. . . From the viewpoint, it's just a short climb and we're at Dom na Kišče.
From Dom na Kališču we continue along the wide ridge path towards Storžič. After a few minutes of pleasant scenic walking we arrive at a marked crossroads where a slightly less well-trodden path from Bašlja (the path past the church of St. Lovrenec) joins us from the left, the path to Storžič continues in a straight line, and we continue to the right in the direction of Bašeljski vrh, Malá Grintovec and Srednji vrh (Middle Peak). From the crossroads onwards we start climbing through dwarf pines, and the path quickly leads us to the next crossroads, where we continue along the bottom right path (left Bašeljski vrh) in the direction Mačensko sedlo. Then cross Bašeljski vrh, following a path that continues with some short ascents and descents. When the crossing ends, we arrive at Mačensko sedlo, where we join the marked trail with Bašeljski vrh on the left, and the unmarked trail through the valley of Suha on the right.
Continue straight on in the direction of Maly Grintovec, following the path which begins to climb relatively steeply up the western slope of the mountain. After about half an hour's walk from the Mačenski saddle, we arrive at a marked crossroads where the path from Dolga njiva joins from the right. Continue to the left and after some 10 steps of further walking you will reach the top of Maly Grintovec.
Mače - St. Miklavž 20 minutes, St. Miklavž - Kališče 2:25, Kališče - Mačensko sedlo 45 minutes, Mačensko sedlo - Mali Grintovec 30 minutes.

On the way: Sv. Miklavž nad Mačami (651m), Planina Kališče (1450m), Dom na Kališču mountain hut (1534m), Mačensko sedlo (1615m)

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