







Zapotok waterfalls - Details
Description
This walk starts as a rather boring walk along the wide dry riverbed of the Suhi potok.
But within half an hour the surprises start to come, starting with a very nice forest path.
The further you walk the more beautiful it gets. Water appears in the riverbed and the path runs through the riverbed a few times. The valley starts to narrow into a gorge and the path leads you from one waterfall with a nice pool and picturesque surroundings to another.
At the end you can visit the last waterfall if you feel fit to do the scrambling.
The Suhi potok usually doesn’t carry much water and at the places where you cross the riverbed there is always a dam of stones where needed.
Suhi potok (suhi means dry)
The water of the Suhi stream flows underground from the point where disappears in the riverbed further upstream, and it reappears close before the confluence with the Soča.
How to get there
On the road from Bovec to Kranjska Gora, past the village Trenta, at the second hairpin bend (number 49) of the Vršič pass road, turn left. After about 1,3 kilometers you pass the lodge Koča pri izviru Soče (at the source of the Soča, see the walk on the Soča page). Drive another 1,5 kilometers until the road ends at a parking place and park there.
During the walk
Walk through the iron gate where the road continues as a dirt road and cross the wide riverbed. On the other side you will find the footpath along the riverbed, turn right on that path.
You will walk in the wide open valley with the dry riverbed in about 30 meter distance or less at your right most of the time. You will cross several dry tributaries along the way.
After less than 30 minutes you reach a scree slope. There are signs at that point and the path marked with red-white dots branches off to the right. Continue straight ahead marked as Zapotoški slapovi (on the other side there is a wooden signpost where the path continues, on your way back you may notice the stone pile on the opposite side).
This wooden signpost (walk number T6) is the last sign you will see. The path will always be visible though and remember that you will always be close or even in the riverbed. There are cairns (little stone pillars) along the way at some places.
After another 10 minutes finally water appears in the riverbed. A little later the path turns to the riverbed and you walk in the riverbed. Choose to cross the water at times, the path is rather obvious.
Some 10 minutes later, so 50 minutes after you started the walk, you arrive at the first waterfall. The gorge ends there.
From that point, walk back. The riverbed turns to the left and just before another turn to the right, there is a slope at your left (see the picture). A vague path can be noticed along the right side of that slope, walk up there, where after the clear path continues.
You will walk through the woods close to the river and reach the next waterfalls with pools along the way. Finally the path continues through the riverbed again and you will be on the way to the last two waterfalls.
You will mostly walk along the right side of the river. You can see the upper part of the waterfall straight ahead running over the rock face. At a point where the gorge gets narrow, there is a path a little higher along the slope at the right side of the riverbed. Finally you will cross the river where the last part continues along the left side of the river.
The path ends in that gorge, with two little waterfalls running over a slippery wall. The big waterfall is just around the corner to the right behind the rock wall. If you feel confident, you can scramble your way up here. But be careful and remember that going back down is much more difficult, especially the lowest part. It may be a good idea if someone stays behind to guide one’s feet on the way back down, so to go one by one. There are no opportunities to attach a rope (at least, I did not find one).
Walk back the same way. At the first waterfall, where you came up the vague path along the steep slope, it might be more comfortable not to scramble down along that slope, but take a path through the woods that goes gently down.
In that case, when you watch the riverbed from above, walk left and find the path that goes down to a gully and then turn right to the riverbed. You can easily cross the riverbed a little upstream and find the path on the other side where you came from at the beginning, and turn left on that path to walk back the same way to the parking.
Trip information
Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutes
Length: 6,4 kilometers
Height difference: 185 meters
Parking coordinates: 46.404205,13.709876
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Downloads
Waypoint of the parking and the first waterfall (Google KML): Download
Waypoint of the parking and the first waterfall (GPX): Download
Track of the walk (Google KML): Download
Track of the walk (GPX): Download