Julian Alps Day 1

Stara Fužina – Presihajoče Jezero

Hiking 8.9 km Ascent: 1299 m Descent: 211 m Max Elevation: 1678 m

Accurate height profile

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Julian Alps | Stara Fužina

We arrive in Stara Fuzina late at night and stay in the Residence Triglav which is a charming old hotel in the middle of town. It’s not a fancy place, but perfect to relax a moment, before starting the hike to the 7 Lakes Valley Triglav early in the morning.

After a short night, we wake up with a beautiful view over the Bohinjsko Lake. In the far distance, we can already see the mountains which are waiting for us. After packing our backpacks, we head to the supermarket to buy the supplies we’ll need for the trek. The supermarket is in the middle of the city and has not much selection. We opt for noodle soups for four days. It would have been better to buy the supplies in Bled, but we were running out of time the day earlier.

At the nearby cafe, we have a quick cappuccino with a standard cheese toast before we start walking. At the bridge in the city center, we turn to the left and begin our climb towards Planina Vogar.
Stara Fuzina is a beautiful little village on the outskirts of the Triglav National Park. The nature surrounding this small settlement is stunning, the cows are grazing on lush, juicy green grass and we can spot the beautiful lake between the traditional wooden huts.

Soon we reach a parking lot where we could have left our car for the next few days. But instead, we asked the owner of our hotel if we could park the car in her parking space, which wasn’t a problem at all – the Slovenian we meet all have an amiable nature.

Let’s climb!

From here the trail begins to climb upwards. After a couple of hundred meters, we reach the forest. From now on the path will ascend for 550m until we reach Planina Vogar. It’s a steep climb but not terrible, and we quickly gain in elevation. We meet a girl from the States, who was on her way down. She gushes about the fantastic view ahead of us, where she was able to spot the Mediterranian Sea from one of the mountains. The one thing that throws us off is the state of her mosquito bitten legs since we instantly remember that we forgot to bring any protection. Bella is especially worried; mosquitos just love her.

Stara Fuzina and Bohinjsko Jezero from above

Planina Vogar

Half an hour later we reach Planina Vogar, a beautiful hut on a clearing in the middle of nowhere. Close to this hut is a spot, from where you can have an excellent view over Bohinjsko Lake and Stara Fuzina.

When I was planning the tour, I checked google earth to avoid constant up and downs. After reaching Planina Vogar, the trek would be flat for the rest of the day; this was at least what I thought. But I was wrong. Completely. It’s a constant up and down, so we change the plan, as we spot a little lake on our map, close to the Koca na Planini.

Koca na Planini

It takes us ages to reach the lake, and the kilometers just refuse to pass. Finally, we can spot the settlement; even the sun is coming out. The scenery looks superb; you could easily shot Lord of the Rings over here. But due to the lack of daylight, we have to find a camping spot. The trail descends into the woods, Bella and I refuse to walk downwards because we will have to walk all the way back tomorrow. But we have to continue, after 20 minutes we still can’t find the lake, so we drop our backpacks and walk directly into the woods, the lake is hiding from us. Finally, we find it, completely dried up. Tired and entirely smudgy but very hungry we decide to sleep close to the trail.