Friday, May 23, 2025
Stage 11 of the Juliana Trail
Most na Soci to Tolmin, plus Tolmin Gorge ~ 32,000 Steps
Everything was so wet yesterday, we went to bed with the thermostat set to 31 C and the balcony door cracked open. Our room looks out over the Soca River, which yesterday was a beautiful turquoise, but today is cloudier with all of the run off.
I slept great last night; the sound of the water and rain was so magical. At about 2 am I was up briefly, and could hear that the water noise had died down. I worried that the heater had turned off, but not enough to check it and see. Turned out it was fine.
Breakfast was served at 7, and we went down right away. A typical breakfast buffet for our trip so far, but with buffet eggs, not the made to order eggs. We managed to fill up and squirrel away a little sandwich from the spread, and quickly got out of there.
It’s not raining per se, but its not sunny either, and the weather could go either way. Today is supposed to be another easy day, but I’ve added on the Tolmin Gorge, so while we have time to spare, we still need to stay moving.
We set off hiking from Most na Soci at 8:30, and its really a shame that we were here when its so rainy. It must be really beautiful with the sun on the turquoise water.
Today’s path is slightly overgrown with high grasses again, and my pants are getting all wet. I’ve already emailed tonight’s host, to inquire about laundry, and they do offer laundry service, but I’d prefer to not get all wet.
It’s very cloudy and overcast, and the air seems thick with moisture. We come across a WWI cemetery, and we go take a look. We are in the Soca Front area where the Austro-Hungarian Army battled Italy. I’d tell you more about it, but I’m much better with WWII history.
We come to a break in the path with a scenic lookout, and we go take a look. Looking across the valley and over the river I can see and make out tonight’s tourist farm lodging.
At noon, we reached the town of Tolmin. We attempted to get Nathan a beard trim, but the barber was closed. We attempted to go to the TI, but it was closed due to lunch. We grabbed more cash, and went to a coffee shop for coffee and to eat our pilfered sandwiches. We also got a piece of Nutella cake, and asked the gal working how to get to Tolmin Gorge and could we get there on foot.
Only 2 km away, so we walked it, and arrived at the ticket counter at 1:20. The gal working gave us a map, and we also chatted about how to get to our lodging after the hike.
The gorge is so gorgeous. Wonderfully turquoise water cascading down the falls. Class 5 rapids for sure. Not sure exactly what I expected, but this is way better than the touristy Vintgar Gorge.
The whole hike through the gorge takes about an hour, and there are 8 interpretive signs along the path talking about the thermal springs, cave, flora, fauna, and the bridge.
After seven days of hiking, and not a lot of resting the past two days, one of my knees is complaining about the downhill, and in this gorge, there is a lot of up and down steep rock steps. I pause to take some Aleve with a Tramadol chaser, and get out my hiking poles.
We return to the ticket booth, and ask the gal to walk us through the directions to our village of Prapetno. An hour if we’re slow and take photos, and she was pretty much right.
We got to Pri’Kafolu at about 4 pm. Tomaz checks us in and we pick from the available rooms. We buy a bottle of wine from him, hand over our dirty laundry, and hang out on our balcony once we showered the day away.
Dinner is a 6:30, and I’m excited for this new experience.
