Oplotnica - Dom na Osankarici (via Črno jezero)

Access to the starting point:
Leave the Maribor - Ljubljana motorway at the Tepanje exit. From the roundabout take the exit to the village Tepanje and drive in the route Slovenska Bistrica, but only until the crossroads where you will see signs for Oplotnica. Turn left here and follow the road to the above-mentioned place. Park in Oplotnica in one of the several car parks (there are usually enough car parks).

Path description:
The trailhead and the first red mountain signposts will be found in the centre of Oplotnica, from where you continue east along Ulica Pohorskega bataljona. Follow the road to where the signs for Lačna Gora direct you left up Vinogradniško Street, which takes you around two bends to reach the village.
For some time we continue to climb steeply on the asphalt, then when the asphalt road begins to descend, we leave it and continue on the right past the sign to the gently sloping path (there are signs for the Black Lake along the way). After about a minute of further walking, we go left into the forest (a marking and an arrow on the birch) through which we begin to climb steeply to the forest road, which we only cross. Above the road, the path turns left and gradually turns into a more overgrown part, through which you quickly reach the Church of St. Mohorje.
From the church, continue north along the initially level path, which turns into a spruce forest and begins to climb steeply. The forest soon ends and the path leads through meadows to the village of Kebelj.
When we reach the first houses in the village, we cross the main road (on the other side of the road there are mountain signs showing us the way) and climb up towards a nearby residential house. In front of the courtyard, turn right onto a path that leads to a larger meadow (this part is not marked). Walk along a fainter path across the meadow towards a small wooden house, which is located by the first large tree.
From the house, walk to the nearby cross, where you go left (to the right is the cemetery at the village of Kebelj and the water). The path, which has been laid for some time, starts to climb steeply and turns into a forest. Once in the forest, we almost imperceptibly join the Kebelj transversal (the trail markings are Yellow-Green for some time from here on). At the end of the steep part we will come to the ruins of the Hare's Castle.
Go around the castle on the left and into the forest, where the trail starts to descend. At the end of the descent, you will reach the village of Nadgrad.
A little further on, we reach a right turn where the Kebelj trail branches off to the left (the Kebelj trail leads past Litič Farm), and we continue to the right towards Štefanija Farm, near which we continue to the left into the forest. When the forest ends, you will reach Strnad farm and the road after it. Follow the road up to the next right turn, where a signpost directs you left into a meadow. Walk along the meadow for a while (there is a nice view behind us), then pass the log cabin to reach the next house, where you rejoin the road. This time we walk on the asphalt to the crossroads at Juhart Farm. From this crossroads, continue left along the wider forest road (straight ahead to Sv. Trije Kralji), which descends slightly, and we walk along it to the place where the markings lead us to the right. At first we climb through a sparse forest, then through a more dense forest, where we follow the signs at the crossroads. Higher up, you reach the Kos farm, where you cross an asphalt road, which you walk along for only about half a minute, and then the markings lead you back into the forest. Through the forest, the path begins to climb steeply and the ground becomes slightly rockier. For a while we climb relatively steeply on the old partly stony logging trail, then we arrive at the less steep forested cart track. The forest thins out a few times further on, and the path leads us through several small wells. A little higher up, we will reach a wider macadam road leading from Osankarica towards Sv. Trem Kralje (when we reach the road we are at the highest point of our route), and we just cross it.
From crossing the road onwards, the path begins to descend gently on an often quite muddy path. The terrain becomes more boggy and we are occasionally helped by wooden bridges. Following such a path, we soon reach the Black Lake.
The path continues along the northern side of the lake and then over a small bridge from which you can see the small barrier that created the lake.
From the lake onwards, a well-maintained path leads us, which is mostly paved due to the marsh. The path from the lake climbs only significantly at first, and then, as the marsh gradually ends, it begins to descend towards the nearby parking lot, from which it is only a minute's walk to Dom na Osankarici.
It is advisable to do this route in fine weather, as the ascent often offers a fine view.

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