Dom v Dragi - Begunjščica (via Preval-a)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana–Jesenice highway, take the Brezje, Radovljica, or Lesce exit, then continue driving towards Begunje na Gorenjskem. When we arrive in Begunje, drive through the center of the settlement; at the crossroads, follow the signs for Grad Kamen castle and Dom v Dragi mountain hut. On the other side of the settlement, the main road turns right towards Tržič, and we continue straight on a narrower road, which quickly leads us into the Draga valley. For a short time, we drive on the asphalt road, then the asphalt ends and the road brings us to the parking lot in front of the Dom v Dragi mountain hut. Because only guests are allowed to park in front of the mountain hut, we continue right, and after roughly 100 meters of additional driving, we park on one of the two large macadam parking lots.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we continue along the road, which takes us past a bee house and, in a few minutes of walking, brings us to a junction, where we continue right in the direction of the Preval mountain pasture over Luknja (left Planinca mountain pasture, Poljška planina mountain pasture and Roblekov dom). The path ahead crosses the stream and then ascends gently for some time along the bottom of the valley.
Further on, the valley narrows, and the path brings us in a moderate ascent to a narrow gully, up which we ascend steeply with the help of fixed safety gear.
The short secured section is not particularly demanding technically, but it is exposed to falling stones.
Higher up, the path leads us out of the gully, where it then continues for some time along the stream. This is followed by an ascent up a shorter ladder (undemanding), after which the path enters the forest, where it continues to a poorer road.
We follow the aforementioned road for only a few steps, then the markings direct us right onto a marked footpath, which continues along and beside the cart track. Higher up, the cart track finally turns into a footpath, which heads somewhat more to the right and begins to ascend ever more steeply. We follow this relatively steep path in the final section all the way to the Preval-e mountain pasture, which we reach after a few minutes of further walking.
From the cross on Prevala, we continue north on a marked footpath in the direction of Begunjščica over Kalvarija (left Roblekov dom over Roža, right Ljubelj and Podljubelj). The path ahead first ascends a panoramic grassy slope, then passes into the forest, through which it begins to ascend more steeply. Higher up, the forest starts to thin out, and the path becomes somewhat steeper. This is followed by a fairly steep ascent, which first passes through some bands of brushwood, and higher over steep grassy slopes that are especially dangerous for slipping when wet. We then cross a slightly exposed gully, where there is a small memorial plaque, and the path ascends for a few more minutes along the steep grassy slope. When the slope a little higher flattens somewhat, the marked path turns left and crosses the slopes to the left. Just a few minutes further, we arrive in a small valley, where the slope flattens even more. We merely cross this small valley (slightly to the right of the valley, one can ascend to Begunjska Vrtača on easier pathless terrain in 15 minutes), then in a few minutes we ascend to the main ridge of Begunjščica. When we step onto the ridge, a nice view also opens towards the north, and we continue along the gentle path, which proceeds along a somewhat narrower ridge. This is followed by a short descent to a small saddle, where the "path" over Šentanski plaz joins from the right. Here the ridge of Begunjščica widens, and we follow the increasingly panoramic path to the sub-summit of Veliki vrh. One more very short descent follows, then without major difficulties we ascend in a few minutes to the highest summit of Begunjščica.

Along the route: Koča na Prevalu mountain hut (1311m)

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