A day on the Óhuta forest circuit - wandering in the heart of the Regéc estate

Itinerary:

• From Óhuta we start westward on the P◼ trail, passing through Zabarlá to the direction of the Regéc Castle.
• We reach under the Regéc Castle following the P trail marks.
• To get into Regéc Castle, we take a short detour climbing up on the PL trail.
• Returning to the P trail, we continue below the castle to a fork.
• From the fork, straight ahead on the Z bicycle trail we reach the main road.
• On the Z trail we turn right and climb up to the Kavicsbánya Meadow.
• On the ridge, we turn right to follow the K trail of the National Blue Trail.
• We take a short right detour on the K▲ trail to Pengő-kő.
• Then we continue on the K trail.
• To the left on the K▲ trail we walk out to the Nagy-Péter-mennykő, then return to the Blue Trail.
• We walk on the K trail to the István-kút guesthouse.
• From beside the house, we take a loop detour on the K● trail to the István-kút, then continue to the hunting lodge.
• From the hunting lodge we follow the K trail again to the Mlaka Meadow.
• From the Mlaka Meadow we visit the Sólyom-bérc on the K▲ trail, then return to the Mlaka Meadow.
• From the Mlaka Meadow we descend on the S trail into the Háromhuta valley.
• Crossing the stream, we turn right on the asphalt (following the Z bicycle trail).
• After the left bend of the road, we climb on the hard-to-follow trail shaped like a red C letter to the Czárán Rest and continue on this trail to the Háromhuta fork.
• From the fork we walk back to Óhuta on the asphalt, following the Z bicycle signs to our starting point.

Detailed tour description:

Dawn above the huts

Early in the morning the village is quiet: small groups of forest workers have already set out around the area so that the first rays of light find them felling trees, while others are still resting or busy in the houses—those who remain from the original Háromhuta inhabitants. Their ancestors were settled here from the Carpathians, Galicia, during the Rákóczi era by the prince. In recent decades most have moved to cities, only a few remained in the villages increasingly becoming holiday resorts.

We start westward in the damp stream valley on the asphalt strip of the Regéc main road, which winds like a ribbon fitting into the deep terrain. The atmospheric trail marked P◼ leads through Zabarlá to Regéc, below the Castle Hill from the meeting of Huta valley and Mély stream near the village border. We cross over a small wooden bridge arching over the water to the side of Zabarla, where on its eastern ridge we greet the morning sun’s first rays. The climb is steep, but the wooded meadows and sunny clearings of the mountaintop give strength for the ascent. Among ancient bequest trees, mossy and lichen-covered trunks of oak Methuselahs, we reach the mountaintop to the edge of a steep drop, from where we first glance back along the path, to the 'valley of huts.' In the densely forested mountains even the houses grow out of the forest like rusty brown mushrooms from a green moss carpet.

On the well-kept meadows of Little Zabarla, we cross the parallel ruts where dew glistens on the grass. The larger Zabarlá is taken in by the forest; bypassing Tölgyes Hill, we enter the Serfőző stream’s spring area, crossing mossy and mushroom-strewn beech woods climbing up to the hillside under Regéc Castle.

Among old oaks, we turn towards the pilgrimage site of Saint Elizabeth on the Rákóczi tourist trail, whose P marking is soon accompanied by the National Blue Trail K marks. We arrive at the steep path besieging the castle, turning left over root-woven natural steps to conquer Regéc Castle following the KL mark.

The sharply steep rocky peak is the andesite lava neck remaining from a volcano crater, around which most of the volcano has eroded away. Around it lies the volcanic caldera, a collapsed, eroded crater remnant, namely the Regéc Basin.

Stepping between the centuries-old walls, the old tune of the kuruc march may ring in our ears, mourning the fugitive prince and the glorious Rákóczi times. The prince spent his early childhood here; during the War of Independence he only saw its once proud fortress in ruins. The Abák fortress was even built here in the Árpád era: its walls offer the most complete panorama of the area. We look out over the Hernád and Bodrog valleys, and the vast, forested mountainous terrain between them. Below stretches the Tolcsva stream valley system, the wooded ribbon of our journey so far, as well as a sequence of volcanic cones from Gergely Hill to the Sátor Mountains. We now target the central part of this area.

Across the mountain's meridian: from Regéc to Mlaka Meadow on the watershed

Returning to the P icons of the Rákóczi hiking trail, we continue northwards. Soon this meets the National Blue Trail, turning off to Regéc, but we proceed straight on the gravel road on the Z bicycle trail. We cut through the wide saddle area between Regéc and Óhuta, open with meadows, then follow the winding course of the Z trail right along the main road and meadows, accompanied by the watchful gaze of Regéc Castle. We cross the source area of the Huta valley stream quite evenly, first along the meadow edges, then entering the forest joining a dozer road that bypasses valleys and ridges—but we shortcut the biggest bend, climbing on a forest path in the Rákóczi valley. The large andesite monolith adorned with the prince's coat of arms and the Rákóczi spring rising in the park-like area above evoke the Kuruc era.

From the springs, over wet terrain, we reconnect with the dozer road winding near the peak region, arriving at a junction of exploring paths. Although going right uphill on an unmarked path would lead you straight to the ridge, we bypass to the left around Tokár Hill block toward the spring region of Mély stream, on the route to Pengő-kő.

We arrive at the saddle on the long Kavicsbánya Meadow, where the Tolcsva and Ósva stream valleys meet. Just a few hundred meters from here, the Kemence stream also feeds from the eastern side of Tokár Hill. The traversed Tokár Hill can thus be considered the center of the mountain region, as the origins of all three significant streams are connected to this block.

On the flat Kavicsbánya Meadow we reconnect with the National Blue Trail, following the K trail from here (to the right) for a long stretch to Mlaka Meadow. Past Tokár Hill, next to the rocks of Pengő-kő, the path leads; on the K▲ trail we can visit the special rock formations on the mountaintop with a detour of barely a hundred meters. The regular shape compositions seem like towers built from building blocks rising on the tiny peak. This is the highest point of our tour but offers no view, as the surrounding beech woods have grown over the rocks. However, after Pengő-kő, we can observe extensive clear-cutting around Regéc Castle and its surroundings.

Turning into the neighboring valley head, we reach the meadow above Pin-kút, where to the left we again take a short detour on the K▲ trail to Nagy-Péter-mennykő, the impressive lookout tower of the mountain range. Crossing the meadow and climbing through the forest, the respectable beech forest becomes increasingly rocky as we approach the peak. Then the mountain almost "breaks off," and below us the half-side mountaintop falls into the depths with a few steps.

At over 700 meters altitude, Nagy-Péter-mennykő is one of the highest natural lookouts in the mountain range. To the north the branching valley system of the Kemence stream dissects the landscape into details; volcanic cones covered with forests ripple around us. A defining view is the opposite Csattantyú Hill and the wide group of Nagy-Milic behind it, remnants of once fierce volcano eruption centers.

Returning to the K trail, with another turn we descend into the István-kút basin, to the former forester’s lodge, into a weave of meadows. The mountain idyll and fairytale atmosphere is completed by the log cabin in the middle of the wooded clearing, beside which a small pond collects spring water behind the house. The shady grove served the former owners of the neighboring stone house; here, the forester used to mow hay for his animals. In the 1970s mowing stopped, so the forest would have reclaimed its ownership, but to preserve the protected plants and animals living in the clearings, shrubs were cleared, and the area is now mowed regularly every year. At the guesthouse, a trail marked K● branches off to István-kút, shaded by old beech trees, where fresh water is available at all times. The protective forest around the spring consists of significant beech Methuselahs; the gray beech trunks create a calm, intimate forest atmosphere, a temple of trees.

Crossing the green birch grove of István-kút, on a wide dozer road from the saddle we reach Mlaka Meadow, the other protected hay meadow on the ridge. Although the temptation to visit the next lookout point, Kerek-kő, is strong since it is less than a kilometer away and from Nagy-Péter-mennykő we have already seen the northern landscapes, it is close to the most beautiful viewpoint of the Tolcsva stream valley, Sólyom-bérc.

From Sólyom-bérc to Óhuta

At the end of the meadow dotted with birch groups, a path branches right on the K▲ trail to the beech slope opposite. Between mossy andesite boulders, we climb to the rocky ridge, from which the landscape dramatically unfolds beyond the towers. Opposite, densely oak-covered mountain ridges stretch long towards Óhuta, into the deeply incised Tolcsva stream valley far below. Houses are not visible, but the valley can be surveyed for a long stretch, all the way to the floodplain of the Bodrog beyond the mountains. A massive volcanic mountain range stretching to Regéc closes the view.

Returning to Mlaka Meadow, we turn right onto a dozer road cut into the rocky mountainside and continue south on the S trail. At Kis-Pockála saddle we turn onto the side of Nagy-Királyos and descend energetically into the Tolcsva stream valley.

We arrive at the bottom of the valley near Középhuta, crossing a wooden bridge over the stream. To close the loop tour, we still need to cover over two kilometers, initially on the valley asphalt, following the Z bicycle trail. The shaded valley overgrown with alder trees, the playful roots of the child Tolcsva stream, offer a pleasant ending to the long tour. If we still have energy and want to avoid the monotonous asphalt walk, just a few hundred meters left, we take a detour on the hard-to-follow, rarely marked red C trail up the mountainside on an overgrown forest path. Although we have already surveyed the area from many lookouts in all directions, the Czárán Rest and Éles-bérc viewpoints have a distinct atmosphere.

We emerge onto a needle-leaved meadow on the mountainside from the winding pine forest trail, where a bench awaits at the upper end, Czárán Rest. Named after a great figure of Transylvanian nature hikes, the place indeed recalls Transylvanian landscapes. Beyond the surrounding pine forests, surprisingly wild-shaped ridges covered in dense forest surround us. Opposite, the impressive cone of Nagy-Királyos rises, and above the deeply incised Tolcsva stream valley, far surpassing the western horizon, the Regéc Castle throne overlooks. From the meadow we traverse an old dozer road sideways. At a small clearing junction, the contour path turns left to Éles-bérc, descending its rocky steep ridge, then on a rocky wheel track we find our way back to the valley, to the confluence of Huta and Tolcsva streams.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the last glassworks stood here, once traversing the entire valley and indirectly populating it. A pub also operated here for a long time in the geometric center of the settlement extended over kilometers; today only a few houses and a pension remain. On the last kilometer, in the widest area of the valley on the former arable grassy flat, we reach Óhuta houses on the Z bicycle signs (following the asphalt). Walking through the quiet village, we return to our starting point.