The Krn mountain is, besides the church of the Jesus's heart, one of the two most recognizable signs of the small village Drežnica. With its height of 2244 meters, it is the highest mountain in this region. Its skyline looks just like a sleeping man.
You can access it from three different routes. The easiest one is definitely the one that starts in Drežnica. One of the other ways starts at Planina Kuhinja. You can access it from Kobarid (of course by car, because the way there is a bit long). From the centre of Kobarid, you have to follow the signs towards Drežnica and Vrsno. You will soon reach the end of Kobarid and the Napoleon bridge. At the end of the bridge, you will see different signs, pointing to two different directions. You have to turn to the right. The streets there are quite narrow, so you have to be a good driver.
On the way to Planina Kuhinja, you will drive through the following villages, that look like they were taken out of a fairy tale: Ladra, Smast, Libušnje, Vrsno and Krn. After you reach the end of the village Krn, you have to drive for approximately three kilometers more. You will soon reach a place with a cottage, and this is where you can park your car. From there, you have to follow the signs. The way is very well marked, and there will be other people, too. The way to the top will take you about three hours.
Another way starts in Trenta, which is a small village next to Bovec. To get there from Kobarid, you have to follow the signs for Bovec. You will drive through several smaller villages, before you reach Bovec, and the way will be about half an hour long. When you reach Bovec, follow the signs for Trenta. When you reach it (after approximately twenty minutes), you will see several signs that say Parking and Krn. So this is where you can leave your car. There is no parking fee and there are several informative signs about the way to the top of the Krn mountain. Again, the way is very well marked. This way will also take you about three hours, and it is the steepest one of all three ways. But, the good side of this way is, that it passes the Krn lakes, so you can see them before you reach the top.
I have left the third way, which is the easiest, for the end. From my previous entries, you probably already know how to get to Drežnica. You can leave the car on the way towards Koseč, where you will see a parking space on your left. The way to Krn will start just after this point. From my own experience, this way is the least steep, but the hardest just below the peak. Why? Because the way goes left and right a million times, and when you think that you just have only about ten more minutes to the top, you find out that it takes almost an entire hour. This way also has the greatest views through all the way up.
It does not matter, which of those three options will you choose to start your way, there will always be a lot of cows there, and they are not fenced. Luckily, when I went there, my father was with me, so I felt safe. And there are also bears around there, but only a few people saw them. Luckily, it was not me, otherwise I would never leave the house again.
You can take a short walk along the peak, and there is a spot, great for taking pictures. If the day is good, you will also see the Adriatic sea in the distance, and all this without a binocular! When walking there, and even on the way to the top, you will notice a lot of remainings from the first world war. In the past, people used to take small items with them as souvenirs, so now you can only see items soch as barbed wire and some caves, that are digged into the rock. There were many victims, and the mountain next to Krn got the name 'Red mountain', because of all the blood. It is sad, but at the same time it is an open air museum.
If you want, you can kill two birds with one stone and visit the Krnska jezera – lakes of Krn, which are situated just below the mountain peak. There is seven lakes altogether, and the most beautiful one is at the same time the closest to the peak. What is special about this lake, are its inhabitants. There are thousandts of small fishes there, and if you throw inside a piece of bread, there will be so many of them, that it will seem the water is not there anymore. You can try and put your feet inside, and the fishes will start tickling you. It is said that they are eating your bad skin off, so this is healthy, but i tried it, and I really did not like the feeling. Some of the more courageous people will even go for a swim in the lake, but for me, the water was way too cold, and I did not dare to do it because of the fishes inside.
On the peak of the Krn mountain, there is a cottage, where you can drink and eat. You can also buy some postcards and send them, but they will only arrive after a long time. I think that the postman comes there twice a month only. I would recommend you to bring your own food with you, because the one that they are serving in the cottage, is terrible, and of course very expensive because f the hard transport if it to the top of the mountain. You can also sleep in the cottage, of course for a small fee. Most people, who decide to do it, are the ones that are caught at the top of the mountain because of bad weather, or because it is already too dark to go back to the valley. There are about fifty bunk beds available, but they are not very comfortable.
You can choose between two ways to return back home – one of them is that you return the same way that you came there, and the other one will take you to Trenta, which is on the other side of the mountain chain. From Trenta, you have an approximate one hour of driving to get back to Drežnica.
If you are an Erasmus student in Koper, you will probably be notified about organised Erasmus trips to the Krn mountain. The trip usually takes place in spring, the price is ten Euros with transport costs and a meal at the top included. They usually go from Trenta because of an easier acceess by bus, because it is impossible to get to Drežnica by a big bus. The trip is usually daily, and you will not spend the night at the top.
And just a funny warning: be prepared for some unexpected surprises on the way to the top. I was on the top of the Krn mountain twice, and both times, something funny has happened on the way up. First time, I went there with my dad and my cousin. We were obviously walking really slow, because just before we reached the top, we were overtaken with a man with two donkeys, which were carrying supplies to the cottage. He told us that he is doing this every week for nearly twenty years. Now just imegine how many times he was on the top!
Second surprise, which was more disgusting than funny, happened on my second way to the top. Me and my father stopped for a lunch in the middle of our way to the top. There was a nice roch that formed a table, so we sat down for a sandwich. But before we even started eating, we noticed a terrible smell, coming from the rock behind us. And what we found there? A half – rotten sheep! This was the most disgusting thing that I have ever seen.
