Refreshing summer walk in Trenta valley

It is quote hot summer this year and we were searching for some freshness and relaxation, and we’ve decided for a morning walk to a nice waterfall located in upper Trenta valley. These are a few waterfalls, called Zapotok waterfalls. This time we head only to the lower one.

I’ve been to these waterfalls many times, but that was the first time with our son. From the parking space there is cc 45 minutes of easy walk.
At the beginning the path starts on a dry stream of bed. This part of the path can be quite hot in the summer, but since we started walking early in the morning it was still ok. After a few minutes of walking, we reached the small path that was crossing the meadow and entered the wood.

From now on most of the path was in the pleasant shadow of the trees. The path is going mostly right on the edge of the wood, so that you are walking mostly in the nice shadow

The path is not only pleasant and easy to walk but also has many signs so you really cannot get lost. Only at the end, just before the lower waterfall, there is no info on how to find it 😊 but if you check online about the path, the instructions are available, and you will easily find it (of course need to be done before you start the hike).

We made a short stop by the traditional wooden roof house. You can still find some of them in the valley, some are very nicely renovated and transformed into holidays home. The one that I’ve captured in my picture looked like an abandoned house, but it was like a fairy tale house on a green meadow.

At a certain point the pleasant shadow ends, and you have to cross a torrent bed. In summertime the torrent bed is dry, but still when you see all these amounts of sand, stones and rocks you realize the power of nature.
Not far away we passed also quite a fresh torrent bed, where there were still many broken and uprooted trees.

At the same time you have magnificent views of the great peaks of the Julian alps. What a view!

After walking for about 40 minutes, we heard the running water, and the dry stream bed was slowly filling with water. At that point you must turn off the path and follow the stream, walking along the dry part of the bed, crossing the water a few times, stepping on the rocks.

The water is so clean and refreshing and you can drink it directly from the stream as our son did 😊.

In fact, it is so limpid that in some parts you cannot distinguish the water from the rocks and the sand. I was reminding my son to be careful not to step in the water, not to jump on the slippery rocks….And guess what? It was me, that step in the water with whole feet, till my ancle. The water was so clear that I hadn’t realized that I was stepping in the water. Silly me, I did it all the way back with water in my shoe 🤐. I saw my wife giggling and turning away so I wouldn't see her.

Just a few meters further and a few steps over the rock, just around the corner, there it was..the beautiful lower waterfall. We were surprised to notice that we were not the fit ones at the waterfall, even if it was early in the morning. A young lady was already enjoying the view of the waterfall.

The waterfall is 15 meters high and has a nice pool below where you can swim. My wife and son took off their shoes and bravely stepped into the water and ran back out even faster because the water was freezing cold.
We spent some time chilling out near the waterfall and returned by the same path.

I’ve taken the opportunity to take some pictures of beautiful alpine flowers.

Since we were in that part of the valley, I remembered of another nearby natural wonder – the Mlinarica gorges. The last time that I was in the gorge I was still a kid, but I still remember how it looked like. I also remember that the path to the gorge was closed for a period of time, after the strong earthquake that affected the area in 1998 (and another one was in 2004). The path is now open and easily accessible, but you can’t reach the gorge as deep as it was possible before the earthquake. I read that you can still enter the gorge with the right equipment, but there is also a clear sign that the road is closed. Of course, we went just to the point where it is allowed to walk.

Mlinarice gorges are 1 meter wide and 100 meters high. The Mlinarica River flows into the Soča River. The Mlinarica stream has a large drop, as, for example, there is a 300-meter drop at a length of 700 meters. This steep stream has formed beautiful gorges. In the lower part of the gorge there is an 8 meter high waterfall. In the inner part, which we did not manage to explore, there are even more waterfalls and pools. Mlinarice gorges were declared a natural landmark in 1990.

How to get to Mlinarice? On the main road towards the Vršič mountain pass, just before the 49th turn, there is a parking space on the left side of the road, from here it is only a 5-minute walk to the gorge. Right at the beginning you cross a small hanging bridge. You can refresh yourself by the cold river. Near the path there is also a source of fresh and clean water.

At the top of the path, there is a wooden viewing platform that offers a wonderful view of the mighty gorge.

The morning slowly turned into afternoon, and it was about time to have lunch at a local restaurant (that we call gostilna), with some fresh trout from Soča river and for dessert the unique sweat dumplings filled with pears (called Bovski krafi).

Thanks for reading,
feel free to leave a comment, I will be glad to reply to.
Best regards, @miljo76