Crnopac Loop

The route starts at Prezid Pass and is well marked. After a short climb, during which you pass two watering troughs on the edge of a pasture, you reach the first junction. Turn left here and continue uphill to the Crnopac shelter (sklonište) (1,140 m).

Crnopac Shelter

From the shelter, there are fine views of the surrounding limestone massifs, especially Bili kuk (1,171 m), which is encircled by the popular Mali Princ route. It is a great place for a break and a snack.

The shelter itself accommodates about ten overnight guests, and behind the building you will find a pump drawing water from a rainwater tank. The quality depends on how long the water has been standing there, so it is best not to drink it unless you filter it first.

Veliki Bat

From the shelter, head a short way back to the junction and turn left. In the limestone maze it is easy to lose the trail, so watch the waymarks very carefully. The path leads you out of the forest and gradually through rocky sections where you will often need to use your hands, eventually reaching the summit of Veliki Bat (1,381 m).

The summit offers wide-ranging views—in good weather you can see the main ridge of Velebit with Sveto Brdo (1,751 m) standing out clearly, the sea to its left, the blue waters of Lake Štikada inland, and to the southeast even Dinara (1,831 m), the highest mountain in Croatia. Stretching to the southeast is also the ridge between Mali Crnopac (1,375 m) and Crnopac itself, the main goal of the hike.

Mali Crnopac and Crnopac

To reach the ridge, you first need to descend a steep slope into a grassy hollow and then climb back up to Mali Crnopac. Here you face the most difficult part of the entire route—a narrow cleft where you must climb using iron bars set into the rock.

This is followed by an easier but still exposed section protected by a cable, which leads up to the summit of Mali Crnopac. From there, a panoramic path with occasional rocky passages continues over a small saddle to the summit of Crnopac.

Along with the views of the sea and Velebit, you also get sweeping views of the deep canyons of the Krupa and Zrmanja rivers, cutting through the landscape below like enormous scars.

Descent

From the summit, head a short way back to the saddle and turn left onto the marked descent route to Prezid Pass. There are no more technical sections, but the terrain remains rocky and stony, so you still need to watch every step.

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