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| Day 6: July 15,
2007 - Soca River Valley |
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Bohinj - Vrsic Pass - Sleme - Kobarid
Today we'll take a ride through the Julian
Alps en route to the Soca River Valley.
At Vrsic Pass we'll cross what used to be
the border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. Along with breathtaking views we'll
hopefully catch a glimpse of the delicate
white edelweiss flowers that grow here. We'll
hike to the high pastures of Sleme and have
a picnic lunch next to a charming glacial
lake. From the pass, a scenic drive along
a winding road brings us to Kobarid in the
Soca Valley. (3 hours hiking; 984' elevation
gain/loss.)
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This
morning we left the Bohinj valley behind and
drove around the outside of Triglav national
park to Kranjska Gora. In the winter, this
is a world cup ski venue with lots of downhill
runs and the requisite ski jumps. According
to Luka, Bode Miller competed here recently
and the town was overrun with groupies looking
for him.
We turned back into the park and followed
all the cyclists to a road that has 50 hairpin
turns - each one of them numbered! We corkscrewed
our way from the Pisnica River valley to Vrsic
(Ver-she-tz). This is an enormously popular
place to hike and we had some difficulties
finding a parking space.
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Our packs on our
backs and hiking poles in hand, we proceeded
to climb the first part of the trail. This
part was narrow and very step at times. We
also kept pulling over so that others could
pass the group. It took us less than an hour
to climb, scramble, and slip from 1611m to
1807m. Along the way we could see beautiful
views of the sharp and forbidding Prisojnik
peak. For the truly adventurous, Ursula recommended
a Via Ferrata route.
We reached Vratca and paused looking up at
the climbers on Mojstrovka and then we started
to hike along the edge of that peak. Shortly,
Luka stopped the group and went ahead to scout
the trail. When he came back, he didn't like
what he saw and we set off on an expeditionary
route to join the high path with the low path.
This was a lot of work as we slowly picked
our way across skree and boulders to reach
the other path.
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| View toward Austria from the trail |
The
high trail to Sleme |
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| Panoramic view from Sleme |
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Our hard work was rewarded
with breathtaking views of Kranjska Gora, Podkoren and
mountains in Austria. The sky was clear with a touch
of haze and the peaks were perfect.
The path continued a little up and a little
down along steep drops until we got to Sleme
at 1909m. We had a very challenging last 150m
but it was worth it. We set up our picnic
lunch under a tree in the meadow and Luka
pointed out his favorite peak Jalovec. He
said it was highly technical. Lunch was a
leisurely affair as everyone recovered from
the hike. Robin and Howard decided to go up
another ~100m to the peak. We made it and
the views of the valley were outstanding.
We couldn't stay long because the goats liked
to use the spot and it reeked!
Our hike back was comfortable without any
additional excursions and we made it back
to the van in plenty of time. We piled in
and drove the remaining 30 curves down into
the Soca River valley to our hotel, Hisa Franko
Casa in Kobarid(about 3km from the Italian
border). We all showered and were treated
to a fantastic 5 course tasting dinner with
2 different wines. |
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