Stol

From the parking lot, we return along the asphalt road to the intersection, from there continuing towards the Valvasor Lodge below Stol and the Potoška planina. From the intersection, we walk for a while on a scenic gravel road, then the markings and signs for Valvasor Lodge guide us left onto a marked footpath that gently descends to the nearby Rečica stream. We cross the mentioned stream over a footbridge, then arrive at a larger meadow, across which we ascend gently slightly to the left. On the other side of the meadow, the path enters the forest and turns into a relatively steep forest track, which we climb to a slight saddle between the peaks of Sivo rebro and Smolnik. From here, we continue shortly along the forest track, then the signs direct us right onto a footpath ascending across a short deforested slope. The well-maintained path then turns left and continues ascending across sometimes steeper slopes of the Smolnik peak. The fairly wide path leads us higher up to a forest road, which we only cross. On the other side of the road, we continue right and ascend along a less well-marked path, which higher up has some unmarked shortcuts as well. This path, which is bit more challenging to navigate at the top due to numerous side trails, we follow all the way to the Valvasor Lodge below Stol. From Valvasor Lodge, we head right onto a footpath towards Stol. The path soon enters the forest, where it ascends gently and leads us to a smaller fork, where we continue right. The path then leads us out of the forest, crossing slopes below Monštranca. We follow this gentle and partly scenic path, which shortly after crosses a short belt of forest, up to a fork at Žirovnica planina. We continue left towards “Stol - Žirovniška path” (slightly to the right is Stol Zabreška path) on a path that shortly enters dense forest and continues for the next 10 minutes. The forest then thins out, the path passes through scrub where it ascends to the next forest section. When we enter the forest again, we will reach a pile of stacked logs with a sign above asking us to, if possible, carry one to the Prešeren hut. Shortly after, we exit the forest and ascend steeply along the edge of the forest. Higher up, the path turns slightly left and crosses a short lightly exposed grassy slope. The path then levels off briefly and leads to a pleasant resting place, offering a nice view of the Gorenjska region. The path then ascends steeply again, this time on a slope mostly covered with dwarf pine. Higher up, the path turns slightly right and leads from the dwarf pine to grassy slopes, where we come to a less noticeable fork. We continue slightly right (left leads to Potoški Stol and Vajnež) on a still relatively steep path, which soon reaches the ridge of Mali Stol. We follow this increasingly scenic path, passing a memorial, all the way to the Prešeren hut on Stol. From the hut, we continue slightly right, where past the signboard we climb a few steps to the summit of Mali Stol. A short descent follows, and the path leads us to the saddle between the two Stols, where there is a marked fork. We continue towards Stol (right leads to Celovška hut and Zelenica) along a transverse path which after 10 minutes of further walking brings us to the highest peak of the Karavanke.