Mali Lipovec - Japetić (via Velika vrata)

Access to the starting point:
You arrive in Croatia via Border crossing Brežice / Bregana. Take the Bregana-Zagreb motorway to the Samobor exit. In the town, follow the signs for Rude and Jastrebarsko. When you see the Smerovišće exit on the right, leave the main road and drive on to the village of Mali Lipovec (15 minutes) and the Šoićeva hiža restaurant, where you can park (if the parking lot is occupied, park on the side of the road and otherwise it is advisable to park on the side of the road, as the parking lot is reserved for the restaurant's guests).

Path description:
From Šoić's house, continue along the asphalt road through the village of Mali Lipovec. When you reach the upper part of the village, leave the main road at the bus turn-off and go right along the narrow asphalt road into the village.
After the village, the asphalt ends and our path will start to climb more quickly through meadows and orchards, and then turn into the forest. Here we will first climb quickly over some ravines, which will lead us to the wider cart track, which will lead us through mixed forest. Here the path bends and leads us to Bošković farm, the last house in the village. From the farm we return to the asphalt road, but only for a minute, because directly ahead is the Velika vrata pass, where we go right. There is also a crossroads where the path from Oštrec and the Željezničar home joins us.
We quickly climb above the Velika vrata pass (in one part the forest thins out and a view to the south-west opens up), and our route will start climbing quite steeply up the eastern slope of Japetić. When we reach the abandoned resting place, the path will turn sharp left to the west and become very steep. Higher up, the steepness will gradually subside and the path will take us round one bend to the north into the lane of the lower coniferous forest. The forest will soon be over, and the path will lead us to the delivery road of the Žitnica mountain lodge.
From here we have two minutes to the home, where we can have a snack or spend the night. The view south from the house is beautiful and there are often a few paragliders on the meadow below the house.
If we go to the top we will take the right path. Walk along the access road for a minute or so and then cross the meadow back into the forest. A labelled entrance informs you that you are in a nature reserve. In this part of the forest, the ground is a bit boggy and the path is sloping. At the exit from the forest there is another meadow, and at the next entrance to the forest there is a crossroads where we join a whole host of paths from other directions in the northern part of the Samobor mountain range, as well as the path from Žumberk (Gorjance). We continue straight on and after a steep climb we are at the top, where we can climb at our own risk to the lookout tower, from which we will be rewarded with an exceptional view in all directions except the east. In the rain, the path is very muddy and dangerous to slip on.

We recommend: similar trips