Mežica - Jesenik (Jesenikov vrh) (via homestead Jesenik)

Access to starting point:
From Črna na Koroškem or from Ravne na Koroškem, or through the border crossing Holmec or Mežica, we drive to Mežica, where signs for the cemetery Mirje point us towards the west on a local road. We also drive past the old cemetery, and then we park on a marked parking lot.

Route description:
From the starting point, we continue on the asphalt road upwards, when the road turns left, we leave it and continue straight on a cart track in the direction of Pikovo. We continue on the cart track, which ascends along the route of a former ski track, and today along the path we notice the disc golf course Mežica. At first, when looking back, we still see Mežica and the surrounding hills, then the path, along which there are almost no blazes, passes into a small valley between the 729 meters high hill on the left (unnamed peak on maps) and Štalekarjev vrh on the right. When the valley turns towards the west, a marked cart track branches off to the left from the ski track, on which we continue. The cart track quickly turns even a little more to the left and then ascends diagonally onto the ridge, where we continue right in the direction of the mountain hut Koča na Pikovem. For some time the path follows the ridge, then gradually passes slightly left onto the slopes, across which we mostly ascend diagonally. Higher up we bypass the Jesenik homestead from the lower left side, where the path leads past the ruins of an old house. A little further we cross a macadam road (to the left we descend into the valley or continue to the Koča na Pikovem along the old path; to the right the Jesenik homestead), then we ascend more steeply on the cart track, which we follow all the way to the saddle from which a view opens towards the southwest.
On the saddle we leave the marked path and continue right on an unmarked footpath that continues along the south ridge of Jesenik. The path, which is harder to pass in several places due to fallen trees (consequence of the windstorm from December 2017), joins a cart track higher up, where the path temporarily flattens. The cart track first leads along the ridge, then passes into a smaller valley, and when it ends we ascend to the nearby peak along a poorer footpath.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2018 (May).

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