The upper part of the Trenta valley is characterised by the diversity of its surface forms: steep slopes, deep-cut valleys, rare flat areas. The U-shaped valley was carved by a glacier. Forest covers the valley floor and extends to the tree line. Despite high proportion of beech stands, spruce, followed by beech, is the predominating tree species. Higher elevations are dominated by larches, whilst sunny slopes are characterised by warmth-loving stands of hop-hornbeams and ashes, and in the valley black pine stands can be found.
The flow of the Soča is irregular and lively, even wild in places. In its upper course, the river carved a deep, wild and amazingly narrow gorge, holding a wealth of giant boulders, falls, cascades, rapids, whirlpools and river islands.
The architectural tradition of the valley is distinctive. In nothing more than a glance one can distinguish between the typical Bovec – Trenta style house and the Bohinj style house although both are built in the tradition of Alpine architecture. In Trenta, Lepena and Soča there are several houses of architectural heritage value. In addition to these villages, the valley also boasts a number of hamlets and isolated farms.
To utilize the water power of the Soča and its tributaries, the local inhabitants set up a number of sawmills and mills. On the left bank of Soča, in Na Logu, a well-preserved Venetian saw can still be seen.
At the site of the Venetian saw, a reconstructed "riža" has been put up. Riža is a timber chute made of girders, which was used to transport extracted wood from stump sites down the steep slopes to the valley. This way of transporting timber was used until the mid-twentieth century when timber chutes were replaced by cable yarding.
The trails offer a magnificent panorama of the summits, rising above Trenta and Soča. Not many peole know that from Na Logu in the Trenta valley one can clearly see the Triglav, with Pihavec, its ridge sloping down to the Kriški podi plateau, dominating the left side of the vista.
In the past, agriculture was the main source of income for the people of the valley. Barren soil made farmers engage in goat and sheep breading. To the present day, sheep herds have remained a typical mark of the valley, and top quality sheep cheese is still produced on some farms in the valley.
Slovenščina