Primož Jakopin, photo diary

Mala Karlovica
and its wider surroundings

September 4 to 22, 53 pictures

          The images, except for the portrait, where the vertical side measures 450 pixels, are mostly 768 by 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are serial numbers of the original photo files. The names of several parts of the cave are the author's.
          The purpose of the excursion on September 7th was, as on several previous occasions, to visit Velika Karlovica through the tunnel in Rakovski mostek, this time only wearing fishing pants with boots. The author would have reached the end of the tunnel alright, but had to turn around a few meters before the end because of his backpack, which was not waterproof.

          Page, text and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2025.

Žalostna gora, September 4

 
55969. Cyclamen - flowers illuminated by the sun, the background mostly in the shade

SE edge of Ljubljana Marshes, September 5

 
55970. View of the sun and clouds over Zaplana, shortly before sunset

Above Ljubljana Marshes, September 7

 
55971. Four hot air balloons above the hills along the NW edge of Ljubljana Marshes

Cave Bay on Lake Cerknica

 
55972. View across the slowly filling lake from the Cvinger viewpoint

 
55973. View of the stream in front of the rake of the Rakovski mostek. The author estimated the flow at 20 liters per second and the water level at the rake was relatively low, giving hope that it would be possible to reach the end of the tunnel with fishing boots, which are extended into trousers. The trousers are 136 cm high at the front, slightly higher at the back, and under the lock, in the center of the tunnel cross-section, it was 75 cm high. 2 meters before the end of the tunnel, the water reached to 10 cm below the top of the trousers, it was about 125 cm high. At that time, just before the shore, it only came to author's mind that he was also wearing a backpack with lights and other equipment, such as ordinary boots, which unfortunately were not at the bottom of the backpack, but at the top. The backpack was of course not waterproof and reached down to his waist. So the backpack was already about 20 cm in the water. The author immediately turned around and rushed back. Half of the lights were wet, he first dried them outside with a scarf, and at home he unscrewed the lamps and dried them completely. They all survived. Unfortunately, the rush, he had to work quickly, did not allow for any photos. The second time he would need either a short backpack right on top of his shoulders with a little less equipment or a smal boat for the backpack.

 
55974. Clematis, Clematis vitalba at the beginning of the slope at Rakovski mostek ...

 
55975. ... here in a slightly closer photo.

 
55976. View of the clearing in front of Rakovski mostek and the clouds above it from the cart track that leads along the meadow to the venue.

 
55977. Another, slightly brighter view across the lake from the Cvinger viewpoint, before sunset

Dolenja vas

 
55978. Ivan Najger made a statue of Martin Krpan (Slovenian mythological hero) on his little mare from pieces of dry tree stumps and other wooden parts. The author was especially pleased with Krpan's butcher axe, which Ivan carved perfectly from a single piece of oak wood; the height of it from the bottom to the top edge is 25 cm. In the background of the photo (slightly supplemented at the corners) is the author's orange fleece jacket.

Pekel Gorge near Borovnica, September 11

 
55980. The first major rapids

 
55981. The waterfall of the first west tributary. It usually has little or no water, but after the rain the previous days it was very lush.

 
55982. The rapids under the first waterfall now turned into two smaller waterfalls, the right one was more watery, ...

 
55991. ... the left one was little more picturesque.

 
55983. First waterfall

 
55985. The crest of the rapids above the first waterfall

 
55988. The middle of the second waterfall has turned into a large fan of water jets.

Ljubljana Marshes

 
55992. Sky over the bog and birch trees - view from the SE edge in the direction of WNW

Mala Karlovica, September 14

 
55997. View from the Cvinger viewpoint over the meadows and lake. According to the author, there was just not too much water to keep the entrance to Mala Karlovica dry.

 
55998. When the author was leaving the viewpoint, the sun shone again for a short time.

 
55999. View of the entrance to the cave from the outside. If the water in the stream bed were just a little higher, it would flow over the barrier and flood the entrance.

 
56002. Flowstone curtain at the beginning of the Side Hall, on the left in the Main Tunnel, shortly before the lower tunnel into the cave's interior branches off to the right from the Main Tunnel.

 
56004. Mini rimstone pools at the top of the hall. The diameter of the wooden ball bottom left is 40 millimeters.

 
56008. Flowstone cone above the pools

 
56005. "Hieroglyphs" towards the top of the side wall. The length of the part captured in the photo is approximately 90 cm.

 
56006. The hall ends at the right, on the other side of the collapse from the ceiling.

 
56007. On the left side, at the edge of the dripstone heap, along the wall there is a crevice, where high water sinks. When it drained away, the floating reeds rotated with a vortex and remained spun like this.

 
56022. View from the lower passage towards Javorniški rov (Javorniki Tunnel) and the White Hall back towards the Front Hall

 
56021. Rock knives in the ceiling just before the end of the Water Passage

 
56012. The tunnel towards the passage is low and quite wide, close to 10 meters. A rocky protrusion in the ceiling (on the right in the picture) divides it into two parts, the right one (if looking in the direction of the passage) is of standing height and the left (in the photo), which is wider, but at the end quite low.

 
56015. Repeated previous photo, where the author is also in the picture. It was difficult to squeeze himself on the rock, just above the water, barely enough not to get soaked.

 
56020. A slightly narrower view of this scene, but instead of the author, there is a white sphere on the rock, with a diameter of 18 cm. The strip of light in the upper part of the picture is the reflection of a headlamp set to maximum intensity. Between the rocks that protrude slightly from the water, there is mud of varying thickness, often deep over the edge of the boots. The author was lucky that the water level was about 10 cm lower than during previous visits to this part of the cave.

 
56023. The cobwebs at the entrance swayed like this in the draft coming from the cave.

 
56024. View of the Mount Slivnica across the dry riverbed just before the cave entrance

Železnik near Borovnica, 452 meters above sea level, September 16th

 
56025. One of the basidiomycete fungus, probably an elongated amanita Amanita excelsa. The one in the picture was small, only about 10 cm high.

 
56026. A tinder fungus, Fomes fomentarius, on a dry beech trunk.

Ljubljana Marshes, September 18

 
56030. The sun through the clouds over the hill Sivčev grič, shortly before sunset

Ljubljana, September 19

 
56031. On that day, Patrik Oberstar, in the lecture room 209 at the Department of Geology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology on Aškerčeva cesta in Ljubljana, defended his diploma thesis entitled Reconstruction of a Pleistocene specimen of the Canadian deer Cervus canadensis palmidactyloceros from Laze pri Planini and received an excellent grade (10/10/10). In the photo: Patrick after the defense.

Mala Karlovica, September 21

 
56042. View across the meadows and Lake Cerknica from the Cvinger viewpoint

 
56043. View from the path along the edge of the field, a little north of the entrance to the cave, across the Jamski zaliv (Cave Bay) towards Javorniki ridge in the early afternoon, in the early autumn light, when every treetop glowed in all its splendor.

 
56044. Above the entrance to the cave there is another little window, even with a skylight, here seen from the inside

 
56045. Emerging stalagmite, about 6 cm in diameter, in the passage from the Front Hall towards the Water Passage

 
56048. Right side (in the direction towards the innner parts of the cave) of the beginning of the Water Passage, where the ceiling is higher than on the left side. The water was about 10 cm lower here than during the visit a week earlier. One has to be careful in the mud (half of the steps are the author's, half were there before), the one and a half meter long sticks that the author is using for light stands helped determine where to step, so that there would be as little mud as possible. The deeper the mud, the more it grabs the boots and refuses to let go.

 
56050. A little less than half of the conical cauldron, approximately 40 cm in diameter at the top, a little less than 10 cm at the bottom. It was hollowed out by a stone that was rotated by water, and then the rock broke to form the current torso.

 
56052. View of the last, deepest part of the Water Passage, from where the water flowed in a narrow stream towards the Javorniki Tunnel. The rock on the right must either be crossed (the ceiling above it is not of standing height) or bypassed on the right side, through the water that is ankle-deep, about 10 cm below the edge of the boots. When you get to the pebble beach, you are on the safe side.

 
56057. "Small Port" on the left side of the beach from the previous photo

 
56059. Rock slab above the left side of the previous photo, illuminated from the water

 
56061. The indented rock, behind the author's back in the photo before the previous one or The Blonde in the Dark One-Piece Swimsuit

 
56060. View from the left edge of the "Small Port", perpendicular to the Water Passage. The author positioned himself on the same rock as in photo 56015, in approximately the same position, again just above the water. The caving suit is always loose in the knees so that the legs can move, and the fabric hung a few centimeters away from the knee. Just enough to get wet. The author quickly wrung it out, but still a little water, not much, seeped down to the sole. Instead of being pleasantly warm in thick woolen socks, it became a little less pleasantly cool and it was time to think about return.

 
56054. A stalactite in the shape of a human figure, 95 cm high, above the beach on the south side of the Water Passage

 
56055. The tunnel leading from the Water Passage towards the Javorniki Tunnel and the White Hall, a view forward, where the author is also facing.

 
56062. A green leaf, a brown leaf and a mushroom between them, along the forest trail to Mala Karlovice

Žalostna gora, September 22

 
56063. Gož, Zamenis longissimus, resting on the warm ground in the middle of the forest track towards the quarry

Related pages:

• This page in Russian and
• in Slovenian language

  To Slovenian Littoral, August 27 to September 1, 2025     Velika Karlovica, September 28, 2025  
 

This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin, member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL). Send inquiries and comments to primoz jakopin guest arnes si (insert dots and at sign as appropriate). Page was initiated on September 24, 2025; date of the last change: October 9, 2025.

URL: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2025/PJ20250904_en.php     243