The guardian of Bakony primeval forest, Burok Valley

Itinerary:

• From the center of Bakonykúti, follow the K ◼ trail along the dozer road to the beginning of the Burok Valley.
• In the lowest section of the valley, we proceed north along the K+ trail to the fork.
• At the fork, we stay in the valley, now following the P trail.
• At the confluence of Bükkös-ér, we switch to the P+ trail uphill in Burok Valley through Királyszállás to the Tés road, where the bus stop is located.

Details about the route:

At the border of Bakonykúti

We set off westward from the intimate Bakony settlement of Bakonykúti along the K ◼ trail from the mayor's office. Nowadays, about one hundred and fifty people live in the village, but after the Turkish occupation, the population of the revived settlement exceeded five hundred in the 19th century, and a brickyard also operated here. However, due to emigration and historical upheavals, the population rapidly dwindled over the following century alongside societal restructuring. Nestled among the eastern slopes of the Bakony, the neat settlement enjoys a prestigious tourism position thanks to the Burok Valley and the National Blue Trail.

After leaving the houses of the village, we soon switch from the K ◼ to the K+ trail, which leads us into the mouth of Burok Valley. The wide gravel road continues to a military training base on the plateau beyond the valley, but our path turns off and begins a slow ascent into Burok Valley.

The lower section of Burok Valley

At first, there is no sign of a gorge. We proceed through groves of shrubby trees surrounded by meadows along the valley floor that rises very gently without any watercourse. After a few hundred meters, the valley sides become steeper and closer, until the first rocks appear from the rocky slopes. The deeply incised valley floor runs between almost vertical walls here and narrows to just a few tens of meters at the limestone-block cleft. Old deciduous trees grow on the valley floor, while green planted Scotch pines cover the edges. From here on, we proceed through undisturbed old forest along the valley bottom. Logging would hardly have been economical in this wild, rocky terrain, so the gorge forest in Burok Valley has been preserved close to its original state.

After the rocky section, the valley opens up slightly, as the only larger side valley, Kis-Burok Valley, flows in from the left, until the sides close in again for the next nearly ten kilometers. Time seems to disappear in Burok Valley; the monotony of fallen tree trunks on the surprisingly uneven floor is only relieved by the playful hiking path winding around them. The exuberance of nature is broken only by sporadic white rocks and small inflowing side branches.

A good orientation point is where the K+ trail turns off. This happens still in the lower section of the valley, after which the P trail continues throughout the valley, which we also switch to. However, no markers are really needed: finding the sometimes winding path on the valley floor is the only possible challenge, but getting lost here is impossible. The steep valley walls strictly guide the path as it bends around the tree trunks, climbing progressively along the valley floor. Occasionally, we cross a stream bed dry for most of the year; flowing water only appears here after heavy rains, significant snowfall, or spring thaw.

The National Blue Trail followed Burok Valley until the seventies. Fading, pale markings can still be found here and there, a kind of tourism historical curiosity. Around the fourth kilometer in the valley, about an hour in, the valley floor is covered by a shining white scree fallen from a rock protruding from behind. From the fields above Isztimér enters a steep side valley here, where floods move significant amounts of limestone debris from the hollowed bottom, bringing it into Burok Valley. This side valley approximately closes off the lower section. Here we can first shorten the walk if we miscalculated or the weather turns bad. Turning off our main route, a few hundred meters later a right-hand turn leads us out onto the plateau, and soon we reach the National Blue Trail route between Isztimér and Bakonykúti.

Deep in the gorge valley

The next section is the wildest, most abandoned, and least visited part of Burok Valley. The previous northern, northwest direction here turns west in a large arc. Its highly rugged form, divided by side ridges, winds continuously like a snake upwards toward the Tési Plateau. If it hasn't happened yet, from here we lose our sense of direction in this labyrinth-like passage — but don't worry, just follow the path running along the valley floor!

In the following nearly four kilometers, navigating around fallen tree trunks becomes routine. Sometimes we even have to climb over fallen specimens, often half-decayed and covered with resurging, luxuriant vegetation. This section might be called monotonous, as our being almost dissolves into the lush nature while winding around side ridges branching off the valley. Because few people pass here, the path is less worn than at the beginning of our hike.

In the middle section, roughly halfway along the valley, lies Burok Valley's largest cave, the 22-meter-long Twin Cave (Iker-barlang). As its name suggests, it is a parallel passage wide enough to enter the otherwise poorly soluble dolomite rock inside. However, the area has been protected since 1995, as have all caves in the country, so due to its remote location away from the trail, we can only see it from a distance if we are observant enough. For a few frames, however, the cult hiking film series "One and a Half Million Steps in Hungary" offers a glimpse guided by local cavers.

The valley lies deep in the Eastern Bakony block. To the south, 1-2 kilometers from the valley, is the county border, beyond which lies the military training area of Veszprém County. The part of the valley belonging to Fejér County is a nature reserve — and as usual, the relative undisturbed military area means a wildlife-rich territory.

When we feel completely lost, a side valley joining from the right appears: Burok Valley's only major branch, where the Bükkös-ér branches off from the P trail and Anglos-style leaves Burok Valley toward Kisgyónbánya. From here, we continue our hike with the P+ trail in the upper section of Burok Valley, in the increasingly shallow gorge.

In the upper section of the gorge, on the edge of the Tési Plateau

The last section of Burok Valley further proves its primeval forest character. The valley direction turns south-southwest, so the northern winds also affect the upper section more in the long, narrow hollow a few tens of meters deep. As a result, there are many fallen trees throughout Burok Valley.

The rocks prominent on the valley edge contain countless hollows. Unfortunately, most of these are fractures thickened by freezes and melts during ice ages and falling rock materials, so their depth is no more than a few meters. Meanwhile, the neighboring Tési Plateau houses Bakony's deepest known cave, Alba Regia, exceeding 200 meters depth, and many other special shaft caves. However, these are presumably not connected to Burok Valley.

The question arises: if there is no significant watercourse in the valley, what carved this striking gorge in the dolomite? Many mention tectonic origin, but the especially intricate, arc-bent shape is hardly conceivable as a result of significant rock movements. Most likely, it was carved by an older, now eroded and worn-down surface river.

At the end of Burok Valley, as we approach the plateau and the usual rocky incision flattens, the forest loses its primeval character, and signs of human activity appear. Old trees are absent; we cross younger forests, and the path is clearer. Soon, we reach the gravel road leading to Királyszállás, where turning left and following the P+ trail takes us to the Tési road. A few hundred meters to the right, we also see the bus stop marking our route's end.

If we still have energy, by crossing the Tési main road we can continue toward Várpalota on the K+ trail (shorter) or via the P+ and P trails along Bükkfa-kút-ér and Vár Valley, continuing the gorge-like excursion along the southern side of Bakony.