Szilvás-kő, the sanctuary of the Medves region

Itinerary:

• We start from the outermost street of Rónabánya from the S marked path along the country road.
• From the resting place above the houses, we follow the S+ and the educational trail marked ZT.
• One after another, we take two small detours to the left toward Bagó-kői, then to the no. 1 mine.
• At the fork, turn left and continue following the S+ and education trail ZT.
• We descend to the basalt columns, then climb back along the edge of the ski slope to the saddle between Kis-Szilvás-kő and Szilvás-kő.
• At the saddle, turn left on the S▲ marked path and climb up to the 616-meter-high peak of Kis-Szilvás-kő.
• Returning to the saddle, we climb the 625-meter-high peak between the Szilvás-kő via the S▲ and ZT marked paths.
• Following the S▲ and ZT signs, touching the lookout point, we descend to the already mentioned S+ junction, turn left there, and return to Rónabánya along the already known path (switching to the S sign near the settlement).

Detailed description of the route:

The route starts in Rónabánya’s characteristic mining colony, which consists of only three streets. Among the many similar former mining settlements now part of Salgótarján, this is the farthest, located directly at the foot of the Szilvás-kő ridge of the Medves region, built from three basalt cones, at the edge of the Medves Plateau. The part of the settlement, worthy of better fate, was where the film "The Butcher, the Whore and the One-eyed" was filmed.

You will find incredibly enthusiastic descriptions about Szilvás-kő, and it truly is a special mountain, so it's worth dedicating a good amount of time to get to know it. The S marked path quickly leaves the houses into the forest, where the benches and the information board of the geological educational trail ZT of the Novohrad-Nógrád Geopark can be found. And last but not least, a beautifully enchanting beech forest! From here, following together the ZT and S+ signs, which turns left from the houses and climbs into the cozy forest.

Bagó-kő mine

You don't have to walk much to reach the first significant stop of the educational trail, the Bagó-kő mine, reachable by a small detour. At the mine under the northernmost basalt cone of the north-south mountain range, the geological history of the mountain is vividly revealed. Similar to Salgó, Szilvás-kő was once a fissure volcano. The first phase of eruptions was characterized by violent explosions scattering debris (these layers can be seen in the fissures at the mountaintop), while in the second phase, basalt lava flow emerged from the crater of Szilvás-kő and associated smaller (so-called parasitic) craters (Bagó-kő was one). The uniqueness of the place is that what we see today on the wild forested ridge is essentially a negative imprint: lava flow from 2-3 million years ago filled a valley, but the softer volcanic debris and other sedimentary rocks eroded over time due to external forces, while the hard basalt lava flow created a terrain that has been sculpted. Over 1000 °C lava shrunk during cooling and fractured into various shapes. In the quite rare exposure visible in the mine, all three forms of basalt appear simultaneously: where lava contacted sediments, it is layered; above it, basalt solidified in horizontal columns; inside the former lava body, vertical columns formed.

Since basalt is excellently cleavable, uniformly wearing, and at the same time a very strong rock, the neighboring Medves Plateau, the largest basalt plateau in Central Europe, became a center of Hungarian basalt mining during railway and road construction periods, with about 20 mines operating simultaneously at its peak. The cobblestones from here reached as far as Paris and London! However, the stone extracted at Bagó-kő mine was not of the best quality, which is why its name means "not even worth a stone".

Continuing on the S+ path, we soon reach the no. 1 mine, where we can examine formations similar to those seen before. The clearing visible towards the village on the educational trail board is the former path of the cableway which previously lowered coal and later stone, transported by a narrow-gauge railway to Rónabánya and then by cableway to Zagyvaróna and the processing plant.

From the Szilvás-kő basalt waterfall to the Kis-Szilvás-kő rocky peak

At the nearby junction, turn left on the S+ path, still with the educational trail sign. We descend through the wild, stony mountainside to the quarry on the eastern side of the mountain, to the basalt columns of Szilvás-kő. Similar to the famous basalt flow on the Somoskő side, here too we can study spectacular solidified rock trapped in the former volcanic vent. Continuing on the S+ path, we climb beside the ski slope closed in the early 2010s up to the saddle between Szilvás-kő (626 m) and the third peak, Kis-Szilvás-kő (615 m). It is worth walking to the top of the meadow that once was one of the most snow-reliable ski slopes in the country, providing a magical panorama not only over the mountain farm area below Szilvás-kő but also over the endlessly extending mountain ranges on the horizon. Over the Upper Tarnai Hills and the wooded ridges of Vajdavár region, the heights of Bükk close this unique panorama. At the saddle, where two Czech soldiers' World War I graves can also be seen, our path turns left and continues climbing to the rocky peak of Kis-Szilvás-kő on the S▲ path. There is no view from here, but it is a fantastic feeling to stand among the forest canopy (use extra caution on the exposed rock). Next to the rock block at the peak, there is a special fissure you can safely enter, but the mystery of the fissure is revealed on the neighboring Szilvás-kő peak.

The mystery of the frost hollow fissures

Descending back to the saddle, we ascend the Szilvás-kő peak via the S▲ and ZT paths with a short but steep climb. There is no view here either, but the biggest sensation of the mountain is the Szilvás-kő fissures, the largest of which is located just here, well visible below the main peak. Believe it or not, this huge fissure was formed by human activity. The nearly 5-meter thick coal seam under the basalt-covered ridge of Szilvás-kő was mined between 1912-19, as a result of which cracks formed in the rock above the collapsing mine passages, and the rock slipped along these, creating wide fissures extending down to the ridge level that continue as narrowing so-called consequence caves. Unlike the safely passable fissure on Kis-Szilvás-kő, descending into the fissure next to the main peak is life-threatening!

The S▲ marking follows alongside the fissure for some distance, then turns out to the mountain's eastern side to the top of the already known basalt columns, from where we enjoy a unique panorama of the peaks of the Nógrád-Gömör basalt volcanic area extending to Felvidék, around Ajnácskő. With this view, we say goodbye as we quickly descend back to the already visited junction of S+, turn left there, and return to Rónabánya along the familiar path.