Our road trip got off to a slightly rocky start, hard to say why. It’s possible it had something to do with having to wait 3 hours for breakfast, walk 40 minutes to the car rental place hungry with our backpacks, and then have Nick get re-accustomed to driving a manual car. One of us might have been a little grumpy. After that it was all smooth sailing, though, as we did the short 1 hour drive to Lake Bled where we would stay the night at an old hotel on the lake. The hotel had an outdoor seating area with views of the lake and right in front of it was a large recreational area with many docks. The olympic crew team used these for their boats and tourists used them for laying out in the sun.

Once settled, Nick and I set off to do our lap around the lake. The path around the lake is about 6km long with paved sections and boardwalk sections near the water. It went through small parks, the town, forested areas, and some designated swimming areas. The views of the island and Bled Castle were amazing from both the path and from above. We saw the views from above by doing the easy Mala Osojnica hike, which is around 1km. At the top we met some Swedish girls who thought I was Finnish. After hardly ever getting to speak Swedish living in the USA for so long I took it as a compliment.

After our hike to the viewpoint we continued along the path to get to town. Our objective? Try the original Bled cake from Park Cafe. We enjoyed our fika of splitting a slice of cake and I had a glass of wine. The cake was creamy with a flaky topping, which was a nice combo. The cake was incredibly difficult to eat smoothly. Getting the top part together with the cream was a struggle and there were wasps flying around. Somehow we managed, though. Once back at our hotel we enjoyed a refreshing swim in the lake before bed.

A short 10 minute drive away from our hotel was the gorge we were going to visit. Once we arrived, we were told we went to the wrong area and had to go back somewhere else to buy tickets. That was fine as I had forgotten my breakfast back at the hotel anyways (which has a 50/50 chance of being disastrous as far as hanger goes). It was not an efficient morning, but it ended up being great we went back to the hotel because the morning was misty and beautiful. We took advantage of being back by the lake and walked a bit to enjoy the same views from yesterday, but misty instead of sunny. Finally we were back at the correct ticket office for Vintgar Gorge about 1.5 hours after we had initially tried to go.

Vintgar Gorge was incredibly busy and I could see why in my itinerary notes I had originally wanted us there for opening. The gorge does a good job at enforcing strict entry times (it’s down to the minute and a machine scans your ticket to let you in). That way there are only a few people starting at once.

In total we did about 6.5km of trail, but the distance varies depending on which trail hikers choose to end on. The main trail is a one way path along the gorge near the water with amazing views of the river and small waterfalls. We opted to do The King of Triglav Trail instead of The River of Trees Trail as it was much quieter, went through the woods, and had great arial views of the town. As it turns out we maybe should’ve tried to do both because the other trail had another waterfall that we missed out on.

On our way to Vrsic Pass we stopped to do the Slemenova Špica trail. The drive to get there was incredible with mountain and forest views along a windy road. Our hike was about 6km and took 2.5 hours. There were no other hikers on our way up, but by the time we were making our way down there were many groups starting. It was a short amount of uphill and a lot of flat on top of a saddle area. The trail was gravel at first, but then dirt through the forest. The views of the valley were stunning. At the top section there is sometimes water that reflects the surrounding mountains, but it was all dried up when we were there. The peak had 360 views of the mountains and valley. Unfortunately, we could not stay up there for too long as every sheep in the area decided that was their toilet. There was a hilarious amount of sheep poop at the peak and hardly any anywhere else on the trail.

We were both feeling great after our hike and up for doing another one. The one I had originally planned seemed like a bad idea due to the weather forecast predicting a storm (spoiler alert it never came so we could’ve done it). Instead we opted for some casual walking along the river in Kranjska Gora. There were many people outside enjoying the sunny afternoon (perfect second hike weather). Nick noticed a dairy vending machine that had cheeses, yogurts, and milk. It was adorable. Finally we made our way back up Vrsic Pass (where we were originally for our morning hike) to get to the lodge we would stay at for the next two nights. We found a random trail the get to the top of a view point by another lodge. The trail was so steep and non existent I was sure that Nick was taking me on a wild goose chase, but it turned out to be a nice little hike with a great view.

After our mountainside adventure I agreed to Nick’s request to share the traditional plate for dinner. It had warm sauerkraut, various sausages, bread dumplings, and other meats. He was a happy man to say the least. I thought it was fine, but after eating so much meat earlier in our trip in Eastern Europe I was starting to get sick of it. Nick also enjoyed their apple strudel. We learned that North Americans don’t make it correctly after I looked up why the Slovenian one was so strange. As it turns out they make it the traditional way in Solvenia.

The lodge was like a hostel on the top of the pass. The views were fantastic, but it was so busy and noisy. It was hard to find parking due to the absurd number of motorcycles everywhere, too. If I had known, I would’ve tried to book us something down the other side of the pass instead. To shower we used tokens that when placed in a box outside the shower gave 3 minutes of hot water each. We were originally given just one token each, but I requested more (who could possibly wash their hair and body in 3 minutes?) It took about 2 minutes for the water to even heat up to a non frigid temperature so I was happy I had more tokens to use.

The next day was our first big hike of the road trip and we were excited for it. We completed the entire length of the 27.6km trail in just under 7 hours. The trail was mostly flat and unlike any trail I had done before. We parked at the higher trailhead so that we would have a slight downhill ending in Bovec village. The trail was generally along the Soca river in the forest, along the road, through small neighborhoods, by farms, and through campgrounds.

Some of the best views of the river were whenever we got to cross over a suspension bridge, which luckily for us happened frequently. Nick and I got scolded by an old German man on one of them, though. They are quite bouncy, but can hold many people at once. Every time we crossed one there were several people crossing as well. On one bridge there was a woman crossing ahead of us who we guess was scared of heights. After we crossed her husband berated us for bouncing her too much. We would’ve happily let her cross on her own first had they just asked. I told Nick it is common for old Germans to find something to nag about, it’s not the first time that has happened to me and won’t be the last.

Our plan was to start the hike as early as possible to avoid crowds as it’s quite popular. This plan failed epically, but it wasn’t our fault this time. We started before 7am, but the hike is accessible from so many places that people do not need to do the full thing and can start wherever they want. Our morning was quiet, but once we got to the more beautiful sections there were hoards of people enjoying the trail and adjacent recreational spaces. It was great to see people enjoying the outdoors, but it put our plan into question. The downside of the early morning was that most areas are more beautiful when the sunlight can be above the gorge and light up the water. We had many shadows for the first several hours.

Once we finished our hike we shared a box of ice creams from the grocery store and waited an hour for the shuttle bus that would take us back to the trailhead we parked at. We ended up waiting around with another couple trying to do the same thing as us for over 2 hours. There was another shuttle driver who told us our shuttle was coming so we were not sure what was going on. We checked the shuttle bus board and there in tiny print on the bottom it said the shuttle stopped running for the season at the end of August. We felt so dumb for waiting around for a shuttle that wasn’t going to come and ended up getting a taxi.

It was short drive the next morning to get to Tolmin Gorge. We arrived shortly after opening because I did not want to make the same mistake we did at the other gorge. The gorge was a few kilometers long, and had a simple path that led around different areas. We had it all to ourselves and it was gorgeous. The highlight was a strawberry shaped rock, wedged in the gorge with a waterfall behind. We liked the area a lot and got to see it from above as well.

1.5 hours of driving brought us to the town of Stara Fuzina, which would be our home base area for the remainder of our roadtrip. Our last hike of the day was one that followed Mostnica Gorge to end at Voje Waterfall. That trail was flat, easy, and popular. The path was wide enough that we could pass people easily which was refreshing since this had not been the case on many of our other hikes so far. It was a nice way to end our afternoon before our hilarious airbnb check in process. I want to add that we learned it was important to always have lots of cash on us because although Triglav National Park and the other park areas are free, there are often expensive parking or path fees that are cash only.

Our airbnb was run by an older couple who were not very technologically savvy. They could not send us the address to meet them at with a google maps link and the address they kept writing to us was going through a translation so it didn’t make much sense. Finally they gave us directions that seemed more like a riddle to find their house. “Find the lime tree in the center of town, you will see a chapel on a hill, and a post office, we are near there.” Crazily enough Nick did find their place relatively easily. We met there to follow them the 7km drive up the nearby mountain overlooking the town where the stay was.

The next day we opted for an easier hike due to a less ideal weather day. We did a relatively short hike to the neighboring village of Zajamniki which was around 12 km and took under 3 hours. We would’ve had the trail all to ourselves, but a school group of about 40 kids also did it that morning. We were not expecting to have a crowd up there with us. The views of the traditional village were worth it, though.

On our way back we tried for a second time to find the cheese house our airbnb hosts had told us about. There were many signs all pointing to cheese and milk (written in Slovenian). We had been unsuccessful the night before but we did find it that day. The woman there looked at us like we were crazy, though, when we asked for some milk. It turns out she was out of milk and cheese. No dairy products for us. The walk through that village was still nice, though, as they have a little church and nice purple flowers. The baby cows were so fuzzy and adorable, too.

After the hike we drove back down the mountain to get to Lake Bohinj. The lake had a wonderful path on one side following along the shoreline. Many people were swimming, fishing, and boating there. People even landed in the park area from paragliding. Nick enjoyed a swim while I watched our belongings and an adorable toddler play with his dad in the water. We could tell that place was adored by locals and tourists.

Back up the mountain we enjoyed dinner of veal stew and ribs from the only restaurant in the village. The bread was amazing. The woman working there told us the bread was for sale every morning. I looked at Nick so disappointed because we had already bought bread from the store. No local products for us at all in this village, so unlucky!

Our last big hike of the roadtrip was 23.7km and took us around 7 hours to complete. There are several routes that pass through Triglav Lakes Valley. We did a loop from Planina Blato that included the Triglav Lake Valley as well as a higher valley that ran parallel to it. We opted for a direction that meant we would get all of the uphill done steeply and right at the start. That meant we ended with more flat and gradual down, trying to keep our knees intact enough to hike for years to come. There were many cows and not many people to start. Only one section of the hike was busy, but that section was one where it had many trails crossing and people could be doing any number of trails. The whole national park was like a spider web of hiking trails.

The beginning of the trail was mostly forest on a gravel road that led to a village. The cows in the village had loud bells on. After the village the trail direction we took was to the right, through the forest and up. It was a lot of uphill, which we took slow and steady. Shockingly, I managed to keep a pretty solid pace. There were many sections where the forest opened up and we emerged with view points of mountains and valleys. At the end of the up was a saddle area with amazing scenery.

A lot of the trail reminded us of the Enchantments in Washington. Lots of white stone, lakes, and patches of green. Once we finished the the mountainy section of the hike the second half was all of the lakes. That half was more busy as it is more popular for people to completely skip the part we had done and just do the hike as an out and back rather than a loop. The lakes were nice, but I thought the highlights were from the mountain section.

On our drive heading back to Ljubjlana we did the Viševnik Peak trail. It was about 8km long and relatively easy. I think the full week of hiking and the big hike the day before made it feel harder on my legs than it really was. I was crawling. It still had a fair amount of elevation gain, though, so I guess I shouldn’t be too embarrassed.

The trail started along a road going up through the forest. It eventually turned into a path continuing up to the peak. Much like the rest of the hikes we had done, the views were fantastic. The trail was more popular than I anticipated. The top of the peak was a bit crowded. To be fair, it was pretty small up there, but there were around 10 people hanging out eating their snacks. My chocolate granola bar had turned into a more messy snack then I had intended, but I enjoyed it all the same.