Poljana (Završnica) - Hochstuhl/Stol (Žirovniška pot)

Access to starting point:
From the highway Ljubljana - Jesenice, take the Lesce exit and follow the road ahead in the direction of Žirovnica and Jesenice. After a few km of driving, we will get to a crossroad, where the road to Žirovnica and Moste branches off to the right (from the direction of Jesenice, left). Only a few meters ahead, at the next crossroad, we turn left to Moste (right Žirovnica). Further, we drive past the monument to the fallen fighters, where the road starts ascending the hill under the railway track. At the top of the hill we turn right (at the sign Vila Karin), but we continue straight towards Završniško jezero and Valvasorjev dom. The road then flattens and brings us to a crossroad, where the road to Valvasorjev dom branches off to the left. Here we continue straight towards Završnica and then after 100 m park on the well-maintained asphalt parking lot.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we return on the asphalt road to the crossroad, and from there we continue in the direction of Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom and Potoška planina. From the crossroad, for some time we walk on a scenic macadam road, and then blazes and signs for Valvasorjev dom point us to the left on a marked footpath which gently descends to the nearby stream Rečica. Over the footbridge we cross the mentioned stream and then we arrive at a larger meadow, through which we gently ascend slightly to the left. On the other side of the meadow, the path goes into the forest and turns into a relatively steep cart track, on which we ascend to an indistinct saddle between the peaks Sivo rebro and Smolnik.
From here we continue on the cart track only briefly, and then signs direct us to the right on a footpath which ascends transversely over a short rough slope. The well-maintained path then turns to the left and further ascends transversely over occasionally steeper slopes of the peak Smolnik. The quite wide path all the time higher brings us to a forest road, which we only cross. On the other side of the road we continue to the right and continue the ascent on a poorly marked path, which higher also has some unmarked shortcuts. We follow this path, which in the upper part due to numerous small paths is also somewhat more difficult orientationally, all the way to Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom.
From Valvasorjev dom we head right on the footpath in the direction of Stol. The path soon enters the forest, where it gently ascends and brings us to a smaller junction, where we continue right. The path then brings us out of the forest, where it crosses the slopes below Monštranca. We follow this gentle and partly scenic path, which somewhat further crosses a short strip of forest, to the junction on Žirovniška planina.
We continue left in the direction of »Stol - Žirovniška pot« (slightly right Stol Zabreška pot) on the path which only somewhat higher enters dense forest, where it continues for the next 10 minutes. The forest then thins out, the path passes among bushes, through which it then ascends all the way to the next strip of forest. When we step into the forest again, we will come to a pile of stacked logs and signs above them which "ask" us, if possible, to carry one with us to Prešernova koča. Somewhat further we step out of the forest, along the edge of which we then ascend more steeply. Higher the path turns somewhat to the left and crosses a short slightly exposed grassy slope. The path then levels off slightly for a short time and brings us to a pleasant rest area, from which a nice view of Gorenjska opens up.
The path ahead ascends steeply again, this time on a slope which is mostly overgrown with dwarf pines. Higher the path turns slightly to the right and brings us from the dwarf pines to grassy slopes, where we also arrive at a less noticeable junction. We continue slightly right (left Potoški Stol and Vajnež) on the still relatively steep path, which soon turns onto the ridge of Mali Stol. We follow this increasingly scenic path, which higher leads past the memorial plaque, all the way to Prešernova koča na Stolu.
From the hut we continue slightly right, where past the sign in a few steps we ascend to the summit of Mali Stol. A short descent follows and the path brings us to the saddle between both Stols, where there is also a marked junction. We continue in the direction of Stol (right Celovška koča and Zelenica) on the transverse path, which after 10 minutes of further walking brings us to the highest peak of the Karawanks.

Along the route: Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom mountain hut (1181m), Prešernova koča na Stolu mountain hut (2174m), Mali Stol (2198m)

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