Podkorita - Gladki vrh (Ratitovec)

Access to the starting point:
From the Ljubljana - Jesenice motorway, take the Lesce exit and then continue to Bled and Bohinjska Bistrica. Once you reach Bohinj, slowly turn your attention to the left turn-off. Just before the main road crosses the bridge over the Sava Bohinjka River, turn slightly left onto a dirt road that continues parallel to the river. From the main road, follow the dirt road for another 2100 m, then park at a suitable place on the roadside.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue along the macadam road, which immediately leads us through two successive streams and a small wooden hut, which we can see on the left. Just a little further on, or just after a small bridge, we arrive at a small crossroads where a short road branches off to the left towards the nearby beehive. Continue towards the beehive (straight ahead to the Grmečica waterfall and Nomenj, the right-hand road ends in the nearby meadows) and beyond it straight into the lane of bushes, where you first see a fainter track which becomes more distinct only a few metres higher. The path ahead leads over a short gravel track, where it turns right and joins the old cart track. It continues to climb along cart track, and we follow it to the right at two less prominent crossroads. Cart track then crosses slightly to the right and leads us into a small valley where it almost completely disappears. We follow the valley or some kind of wide gully for a few steps, and then the track leads us to the left onto the slopes, where cart track becomes more distinct again. Just a little higher up, a forest road is crossed, and the track above it first climbs through lane of bushes, then passes into forest, through which it begins to climb more steeply. Higher up again, there are some almost imperceptible forks, and we follow the "main" path, which leads us higher up to a more rocky and partly grassy cart track. Here we continue to the left and then, after a few metres, when we reach a small valley, to the right on the folded cart track, which we follow up to a nearby dirt road. Follow the road to the right, then after a few 10 metres, at a small right-hand bend, bear slightly left onto cart track, which ascends to the lower part of Bitenjska mountain pasture. Once out of the forest, continue slightly left, and after a short climb you will see the first huts on mountain pasture, which you will reach by walking across an increasingly scenic meadow.
Above mountain pasture, we come out on an asphalt road, which we follow to the right (Železniki on the left), and we walk along it to a nearby crossroads, at which we see the first signs for Ratitovec. Continue left on the road towards Ratitovec, and the initially asphalt road quickly leads into a dense forest. Walk along the road for about 10 minutes, and then signs direct you slightly left on a marked footpath which continues along the grassy cart track, which in turn runs along the Bitenjski graben stream. Higher up, return to the road, which is reached just at a small crossroads. Continue along the upper right road, which quickly leads to Ribčeva planina.
From Ribčeva mountain pasture, continue along the road, which takes you slightly higher to a crossroads where you continue to the right. From the crossroads, walk along the road for about 2 minutes, and then the signs for the footpath to Ratitovec direct you left to the marked cart track, which turns into a slightly steeper mountain path higher up, but soon crosses the forest road and lays down behind it. On the other side of the road continue along cart track, then quickly leave it as the markings direct us right onto the forest path, which climbs moderately at first, then gradually descends to the nearby forest road, which we follow to the left. The ascent continues along the road, and we walk along it for a few minutes to its end, where there is a large parking lot and a turning point.
From the parking lot, continue along the wide cart track, which starts to climb quite steeply through the forest. After about 10 minutes' walking, cart track is laid down, and then only a little further on leads to the huts at mountain pasture Pečana.
A few steps above these huts, we emerge from the forest onto grassy slopes, and we continue along the right-hand side of mountain pasture for just a few metres, and then at the crossroads we continue to the right in the direction of the Krek huts (straight Kosmati vrh). The way ahead begins to climb moderately through an increasingly sparse spruce forest. Higher up, we finally emerge from the forest onto the vast pastures of Ratitovec, where we leave cart track and continue our ascent along a slightly less visible, but marked path which, after a few minutes' further walking, leads us to the top slopes of Ratitovec, where we are joined on the right by the path from Soriška mountain pasture. Continue to the left and follow the increasingly scenic path that leads past the winter bivouac all the way to Krekova koča na Ratitovcu, only to reach it after less than 5 minutes of further walking. From the hut, continue left along a slightly steeper path in the direction of Gladki vrh. Follow this increasingly scenic path all the way to Gladki vrh, which is reached after 5 minutes of further walking.

On the way: Bitenjska planina (901m), Ribčeva planina (1115m), Planina Pečana (1472m), Krekova koča na Ratitovcu mountain hut (1642m)

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