Lake Krn, below Mount Krn

Hiking to Lake Krn from Lepena

The usual route starts at the Dom dr. Klementa Juga hut in the Lepena valley, next to Trenta, with lonely farms that the Soča Valley Tourist Board describes as a showcase of the park. It’s a marked mountain trail rated easy, though you walk it at your own risk. You can also start from the hut on the Kuhinja pasture. Time and ascent are in the fact box, and for similar routes see the guide to hiking in Slovenia.

From the lake, experienced walkers can carry on towards Mount Krn, which towers over Kobarid and the whole valley. Below the summit is the Gomiščkovo zavetišče hut, at 2,182 m. Above the lake, this is serious high mountain country.

What Lake Krn is like

It’s a glacial lake in the upper Soča Valley, at 1,391 m, below Mount Krn, 2,244 m, and very close to the Planinski dom pri Krnskih jezerih hut, the Duplje pasture and Lake Duplje. It’s nearly 400 m long, 150 m wide and 17 m at its deepest. The water holds 40 plant species, almost all algae, and 24 species of lower animals, mostly small crustaceans, and to protect that ecosystem bathing is banned.

The plural name, Krnska jezera, the Krn lakes, refers to three, the big lake, Lake Duplje and a smaller one at Ložnica.

Isonzo Front trenches

The Krn landscape witnessed the Isonzo Front and then the dark period of the Rapallo border, as the Soča Valley Tourist Board puts it. The remains of trenches, caverns and barbed wire are still there. To see them in context, the Walk of Peace links these places with the valley’s museums.

The Slovenian Tourist Board puts it well. Although the vestiges of war are still here, the lake offers a true escape from the everyday hustle and bustle, with Krn reflected in the water. The Soča Valley Tourist Board also notes that mountain trails are graded at three levels, easy, challenging and very challenging, and that the path to the lake belongs to the first. Even an easy trail at this height calls for proper boots, a waterproof layer and a look at the forecast before you leave the valley, and the huts are the place to ask about conditions higher up.

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Alpine flowers round the lake

Beside the lake, sheltered by the peaks, the meadows fill with alpine flowers in summer, including endangered species such as the yellow Kerner alpine poppy, aconite and white cottongrass. As the whole massif belongs to Triglav National Park, its regulations hold here and litter goes back down to the valley.

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