Osilnica - Loška stena

Access to the starting point:
a) First drive to Ribnica, then continue to Kočevje. After Dolenjja vasja, turn right towards Grčarice, Gotenica and Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka, turn right towards Borovec at Kočevska Reka, Strma Reber Pass and Osilnica. In Borovec, turn right again, and then pass the hamlet of Ravne and within a few kilometres reach the Strma Reber Pass, located at an altitude of 993 m. After the pass, the road begins to descend, and then after 19 serpentines leads us and a few more kilometres of driving leads to the settlement of Sela, and a little lower still to Osilnica, where in the centre of the settlement, near the Mercator store, we also park.
b) From Kočevje drive towards Border crossing Petrina, then at the end of Štalcerji turn right towards Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka turn left towards Borovec at Kočevska Reka, Strma Reber Pass and Osilnica. In Borovec, turn right, then pass the hamlet of Ravne and within a few kilometres you will reach the Strma Reber Pass, located at an altitude of 993 m. After the pass, the road starts to descend, then after 19 serpentines, it leads and a few more kilometres of driving leads to the hamlet of Sela, and a little lower still to Osilnica, where you can park in the centre of the hamlet, close to the Mercator shop.
c) From Border crossing Petrina continue along the road towards Osilnica. Continue through Grivac, Gladloka, Kuželj, Srobotnik ob Kolpi, Mirtoviči, Bosljiva Loka, Grintovec pri Osilnici, Ložec and Ribjek to Osilnica, where you will park in the middle of the settlement near the Mercator shop.

Path description:
From the starting point, continue along the road leading further towards Petrina, which runs along the Kolpa River. When Osilnica ends, the path leads us past a few more houses that belong to Osilnica. After the house with the house number Osilnica 1, cross a small stream over a bridge, and then immediately after the bridge, turn left onto a marked footpath, where after a few steps you will see the first markings. Continue on the cart track, which climbs gently to moderately through the forest, and at a few forks we follow it in the direction of the markings. Higher up, the forest ends and the trail leads us past a hunting observation post to the settlement Križmani, where the trail leads us between some houses.
After the houses, we cross an asphalt road and then climb straight up, where the path leads us through a small orchard. A little further on, where the meadow becomes more overgrown, the path turns right and enters a forest. Climb through the woods for a few minutes, then cross the partly overgrown meadow to the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which you just cross. Continue past a wood pile, then through a short lane of forest to reach a local road leading to the settlement of Bezgovica. When you reach the village, continue slightly right at a small crossroads, and then, with fine views of Sveta Gora and Gorski Kotar, you will reach the upper part of the village, where you will follow the signs between the houses. Behind the last house you will see the mountain direction signs, which direct you to the bank, to the path that turns into a forest, through which you gradually start to climb steeply. After a short climb, we are joined on the right by a path from the 18th serpentine road to Strmo Reber, and we continue straight on the steeper path, which leads us higher up in a cross-climb to a steep valley, after which we continue our climb. Higher up, markings from the open valley lead us left onto a path that passes along the edge of an occasionally precipitous ridge. The ascent continues along an occasionally slightly more overgrown path, which retreats slightly to the right, occasionally opening up some views of the surrounding hills. A few minutes higher we reach the broad cart track, which we follow to the left, and we follow it to where it splits into two parts. Continue along the slightly left cart track (the right cart track bypasses Bezgarska planina and leads to the Strma Reber pass), which quickly leads out of the forest to the lower part of the Bezgarska mountain pasture. When you reach mountain pasture, you will walk across a meadow to a large hunting observation point in a minute or two.
From the hunting observation post, at which there is a marked crossroads, continue to the right in the direction of Cerka and Firstov rep (straight ahead Taborska stena, Dragarji. . . ), following the path which descends to a small garden in the middle of mountain pasture. When the path enters the forest, continue straight on at the crossroads of the tracks (here a track joins from the right, which turns straight off the marked path just before mountain pasture and is about a minute shorter than the marked path). There is a climb through the forest for a few minutes, and then you reach the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which you cross with care.
On the other side of the road, continue in the direction of Cerka and Firstov rep and follow the forest road. The way forward is along the forest road, from which after a few minutes a marked path branches off to the right.
Continue on the marked path (it is also possible to continue on the unmarked path, as the marked path returns to the above-mentioned road after a while, and the path along the road is also slightly shorter), which passes into a dense forest. Through the forest, start climbing moderately, following the markings carefully, as the otherwise traceable path is relatively poorly trodden. When the path is slightly higher, you will pass the unmarked peak of Luknja (1079 m) on your left, which can be reached in a few minutes by following the easier trackless path, otherwise continue along the marked trail, which, as written above, passes the peak on your left. There are a few short ascents and descents, followed by a slightly longer descent, which ends when you reach the macadam road.
When you reach the road, continue to the right (on the left, the marked path to Cerk and the road that leads back to the starting point) in the direction of Firstov tail. Follow the road as it climbs gently to moderately, and walk along it to its end or turning point.
On the left-hand side of the turning-point you will see signs for Firstov rep and, for the first time, for Loška stena, which direct you to a track which gradually starts to descend. When the track ends after a few minutes, we see a game salt house on the left, and we continue straight down the marked footpath, which takes us in a few steps to the registration box at the tail of Firstov. From the registration box, continue downhill on the marked trail in the direction Loška stena. The rather picturesque path, which offers beautiful views of the nearby walls, columns and hills, leads us along the edge of the cliffs, which the path retreats to the right side, so there is no significant risk of slipping, unless of course you go to the edge for a nice view. A little lower down, the path enters the forest and then flattens out. There is a short climb and then an easy descent to the precipitous edge of the Loška stena peak, from where a really nice view of the Upper Kolpa valley and the surrounding hills opens up.
Osilnica - Bezgarska planina 2:10, Bezgarska planina - Firstov rep 1:15, Firstov rep - Loška stena 25 minutes.
Description and images refer to the situation in 2015 (August).

On the way: Križmani (455m), Bezgovica (565m), Bezgarska planina (895m), Firstov rep (1002m)

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