Zgornja Idrijca Natural Park

The Zgornja Idrijca Natural Park was inaugurated an adequately protected by the Municipality of Idrija in 1992. The park’s area extends across 4230 hectares, of which no less than 4105 hectares of diverse and lively land is covered by forests – for the most part rich in timber and well tended.

This vast park extends over the basin of the upper course of the Idrijca river beneath the hamlet of Mrzla Rupa (840m) on the edges of the plateau Vojskarska planota. It also embraces the valley of the Belca rivulet and the edge of the aforementioned Vojskarska planota and Trnovski gozd. The very complex geology and interesting structure of the territory hides numerous fossil finds. A large part of the park displays karst characteristic, and consequently, sinkholes, caves, and potholes are no exception here. A luxurious and diverse floral world with the presence of Dinaric, Alpine, and sub-Mediterranean plant species proves to be particularly attractive.

Not much more than a stone’s throw from Idrija, beside the unique 400-year-old Rake near Kamšt (water wheel complex), starts a naturalistic, didactic pathway – a popular stroll lined with rich vegetation. Beneath Joseph’s Shaft, close to the former haulage station, one may admire the preserved locomotives of the former mining railway with different power systems, and the old “laundry”, where in the past times miner’s wives washed their linen in the cold waters of the Idrijca river. The water channel Rake, originally made of wood and only later (from 1766 to 1770) constructed in brick and stone, is eyen in the present day used for the operation of the Lenštat hydro-plant. The view directed upwards from the Wild Lake and Kobila opens up to the picturesque valley of Strug, which especially in summertime attracts lovers of nature and healthful recreation. The Strug Valley generously displays its crystal clear, murmuring water, countless water pools (“žonfi”), small suspended footbridges, and precipitous, overhanging rock walls. During the warm months, the confluence of the Idrijca and Belca rivers may get fairly crowded, since the summer bathing spot at Lajšt has been well known and popular with locals for a long time.

Krekovše above Bela – a well-known outpost and research station- in the upper part of the park should also deserve our attention. Luxurious beech forests with their monumental trees bear a stamp of well-planned management and silvicultural work that spans several centuries. These forests are vigorously flourishing despite their karst base, since Krekovše with its precipitation rate of 3000mm/m² per year is one of the rainiest spots in Slovenia. Near the pathway leading to Mrzla Rupa at Hudo Polje, there stand a monument erected in the memory of the Partisan Hospital Pavla, which during World War II provided shelter and medical assistance for some 1000 injured Partisans. Out attention may also be drawn by other landmarks of ancient history: the supposed remnants of the Roman “limes”. Tradition claims that during the 4^th and 5^th century a system of protective walls was built in this area, which was intended for the control of movement from the Idrijca Valley to the valley of Trebuša river and further on to Italy. A part of this wall in Mrzla Rupa near Habe certainly invites further exploration and research. The unique natural point of interest is the virgin forest of Bukov vrh, located in the large sinkhole between Hudo polje and Smrekova draga (Spruce Glen). This intact virgin forest extends over an area of 9 hectares at an altitude of 1314 meters above sea level.

Smrekova draga (Spruce Glen) belongs to the forest reserve Golaki. In the spacious sinkhole, nature shaped an extraordinary inversion in its arrangement of vegetation. The layers of plants are arranged on the after the other across slopes stretching over 200 meters of height difference. At the upper part of the hillside extends the mountainous beech forest, which at lower altitudes passes into a combined beech and fir zone. Still lower there follows the spruce forest, whereas the bottom of the sinkhole is overgrown by heather and other shrubs and semi-shrubs. Amongst the heather one may perceive the mosaic-like intermingling of mountainous grasses and mosses. The reason for this inversion of the natural order is to be found in the shape of the sinkhole’s relief. The sinkhole is closed in by neighbouring mountain ridges, which prevent the circulation and movement of the air. Such conditions enabled the creation of a specific “mezzo-climate” with a calm atmosphere, increased relative air humidity and frequent fogginess. The snow that gets accumulated at the bottom is during spring only slowly thawing up and thus durably cools ate atmosphere and the soil. The air temperature measured from the sinkhole’s edge towards its bottom in therefore gradually falling. Spruce Glen thus possesses a double “mountainous” inversion- climatic and vegetational.

The distance of Paradana forest and botanic reserve from Idrija (taking the road to Lokve) amounts to some 32 kilometres. The glacial and karst vale and caves form an example of an exceptionally rich natural heritage. In the reserve one may explore the combination of a wide range of surface and underground karst phenomena, which are completed by remnants of glacial movements as well as by thermal and vegetative inversion. The Paradana cave system consists of three caves. The largest is called the Grand Ice Cave and is 385 meters deep and 1550 meters long. It extends further on to form several potholes with a total length of 650 meters. The attractive karst underworld is hidden under a blanket of eternal snow and ice. In the past, locals used to supply some coastal towns with this ice and export it as far as Egypt; it was mostly used for cooling beverages, fruit and other victuals. Pradana as a natural monument represents a unique and first-class point of interest, since even at the peak of the summer heat one may still experience the eternity captured under the everlasting ice.

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