While I was staying in the Tarcento area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy, I took a day trip over the border to Slovenia to go hiking in Triglav National Park. It was only about a one hour drive, and a nice drive at that. Triglav is a massive park with all kinds of awesome looking stuff, could easily spend a few days exploring all the sights, hiking, etc. But I just went for a day trip, so stayed near the area of Soča, when driving in from the west, and hiked around a few places.

I stopped at a market when I got near the park, I bought some snacks and also some local Slovenian cheese that was made in nearby Trentra, that the woman working at the market recommended.

Then I decided to hit the trail. Very beautiful hiking, trees, rocks, cool buildings along the road, really nice place.

This hike took me towards a small waterfall that was pretty.

Afterwards I started going towards a trail that looked like it would be intense, it was marked with an exclamation point, but always hard to know what to expect.

There was a fair amount of metal roping while going up rocks.

I assumed that was the extent of the intense part of the trail, but then I got to where it lived up to the exclamation point. Basically going along a fairly sheer rock with narrow limited foot holds and strong metal cabling. I considered continuing, but ultimately decided not to do so. My ankle was still not 100% after spraining it badly while hiking the Cinque Terre, and since I wasn’t there with a friend, it didn’t seem worth the risk given that I was definitely not 100% and that kind of trail looked especially taxing on my ankle. So, I decided sometimes it’s better to be smart and be able to keep going, and the last thing I wanted to do was make my ankle worse, so I turned around even though I was tempted not to.

Near the trail entry point, there were some picnic tables across the footbridge that crosses some of the water and rocks. So I took a break and had a picnic. I ate some of the Slovenian cheese I had bought earlier, and it was really delicious!

So, then I headed back to my car and drove a little further down the road to go on another trail. There was a great information and welcome center when getting to the park. The woman working there gave me a map of that part of the park and marked a bunch of different things to see and trails to hike. She had marked one as having a nice waterfall at the end, so I figured I’d head that way and go hiking over there.

Some nice views with cool buildings and mountains along the way.

As I was hiking along the trail, it wasn’t marked very well, and I wasn’t really sure if I’d get to a waterfall or not. It seemed really dry in places, but it was a nice day, and lots of great views with trees and mountains, so I kept going.

For a while I was walking along what looked like a dried up river bed. Just lots of rocks. Perhaps in the spring it’s a river from snow melt? There was even what looked like some kind of partial dam along the way.

As I continued, I eventually did start coming to water, so I continued to walk along the river bed, having to walk across wet rocks in places. I was really enjoying the hike.

Eventually I got to a point where the water level was getting slightly deeper, and then I rounded a bend in the river and I could see a waterfall ahead!

Really gorgeous scene. And I hadn’t seen any other person while hiking along this trail, which had been for more than an hour. So very peaceful. I couldn’t get all the way to the waterfall without wading through some water, so I took off my shoes and stepped in to the clear and cold water. It was about 1 foot (30cm) deep. So I walked up closer to the deep pool at the base of the waterfall, and found a nice rock to sit on that was only slightly damp, and enjoyed the area.

Eventually I decided it was time to get up and hike back out along the river wasteland. But I really can’t describe just how amazing this place was in person. The waterfall, the emerald pool, and the area around it really made for one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve seen and experienced. Just wonderful.

So, I hiked back to where my car was, enjoying more nice mountain views along the way.

There was one other sight marked on the map that looked worth driving too before I left the park, so I headed over that way. The image on the map made it looks bigger than it was, the water running over the rocks, but it was still a very pretty sight, and a nice short drive along some winding roads to get there.

From here, I got back in my rental car and drove back to Italy. I went to Lago de Predil, an absolutely gorgeous mountain lake in Italy, not too far from the Slovenian border. But I’ll write about that when I get my Friuli-Venezia Giulia blog post up. But, if you’re visiting the western side of Triglav National Park, then Lago de Predil is definitely worth a visit. Especially if you feel like taking a swim on a warm and sunny day.