page_title: Slovenian Mountain Hiking Trail
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Slovenian Mountain Hiking Trail / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photographic portrait of Ivan Šumljak, published in 1959 at his 60th anniversary in the mountaineering journal Planinski vestnik.Slovenščina: Fotografski portret Ivana Šumljaka, objavljen leta 1959 ob njegovi 60-letnici v Planinskem vestniku.
context_page_description: The Slovenian Mountain Hiking Trail, sometimes also called Transverzala, is a route from Maribor to Ankaran. It covers most of the Slovenian mountain areas including Pohorje, the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karawanks, and the southwestern part of Slovenia. It is the oldest hiking track in Europe.
context_section_description: The idea of connecting the most beautiful, hilly, and mountainous area in Slovenia came from Ivan Šumljak in 1950. Originally, the trail was meant to be a circular route, which would start and end in Maribor. It was later changed to include Postojna and other areas towards the sea. It mostly included  existing hiking trails. However, on some shorter parts it was necessary to make new demarcations to connect them together. 
  The trail opened on August 1, 1953, with 80 control points. Since then, the trail has only changed slightly. These are the trail's current features: Control points: 75; Length: 599 km; Total ascent: 45.2 km; Total descent: 45.5 km.
  There are 58 huts and two museums — the Slovene Alpine Museum in Mojstrana, and Franja Partisan Hospital (from World War II) — and the cave system named Škocjan Caves.
  The first guided tour of Slovenski planinski transverzali was conducted in 1958. About 9500 hikers have completed the route over 60 years of the trail's history. 
  The Slovenian Mountain Hiking Trail also has an extended route with 35 control points throughout Slovenia.
caption: Ivan Šumljak, 1959
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