A glimpse into the past around the Szalajka valley

Itinerary:

• We climb on the Z trail touching the Forestry Museum up to the plateau along the Szalajka and Horotna valleys to the slope of Nagy-Kopasz, avoiding the Veil Waterfall.
• We cross the meadows of the plateau on the K+ trail to the foot of Őr-kő.
• We make a short detour to the summit of Őr-kő via the P and then the K▲ trails.
• From the Őr-kő meadow, we descend on the P trail to the military graves.
• We return to Szilvásvárad on the Z+ trail through the Kelemen saddle and Bácsó valley.
• The starting point is indicated by the Z trail.

Description:

The emerald jewel of the Western Bükk, the valley of the Szalajka creek

Our hike begins at the lower terminus of the narrow-gauge railway at the start of the Szalajka valley on the Z trail. The first section must be done on an asphalt road, since the inner region of the valley rich in sights was outfitted with a public road for easier access (there is also a road here leading to the Italian Gate on the edge of the plateau, which experiences heavy traffic on weekends). Nevertheless, the more annoying crowd flowing through the bazaar streets is left behind right at the start of our route.

Within the first kilometer, we leave behind the market stalls, trinkets, restaurants, and even the vehicular traffic that turns off into the Tótfalusi valley, reaching one of the most spectacular parts of the Szalajka valley next to a small wildlife park. Here stands the old forestry building, now serving as the Forestry Museum with the Guardian of the Carpathians statue in its garden. Inside, the history and tangible memories of forestry in the Bükk are collected. We also cross the narrow-gauge railway line, originally established to improve the efficiency of timber harvesting. At the Forestry Museum stop, a narrow-gauge track branched off that led back to the Tótfalu valley to the ski slope built on the edge of the plateau. The timber cut on the Bükk plateau was lowered down with a wire rope and counterweight system, traces of which can still be found, and transported out of the valley by the narrow-gauge railway.

Above the museum, we arrive at the dam of the Great Lake, followed by several smaller artificial lakes and pools scattered on the valley bottom. These lakes, fed by abundant, crystal-clear springs, serve as excellent trout habitats and have remained as industrial-historical sights in the valley. Here, freshly grilled trout can be bought and consumed; the smoked variety is also practical to take along on the hike.

Above this point, the valley narrows somewhat, and the most captivating section follows, where the path is squeezed between forested mountain slopes and riverside alder forest. The path skirts a small rock above the lushly overgrown mirror of the Small Lake, opposite which the Rock Spring bursts out stylefully from a larger cliff. Like a fairy tale, the spectacular, crystal-clear lake is fed by a small waterfall from spring water emerging from a crevice in the prominent cliff. The karst water arrives outside through a broadly dissolved cave corridor, which can be accessed through a gate behind the rock.

Above the Rock Spring, we reach a junction where our hike continues in the right branch in the Horotna valley. Before that, it is worth visiting the nearby Veil Waterfall, which is only a couple of hundred meters further in the Szalajka valley, above the confluence of the two valleys. This is our nation's most spectacular tufa dam, where limestone dissolved from the core of the mountain re-precipitates from the karst water due to the gentle sound of the waterfalls. Due to the terracing below the spring, carbon dioxide escapes from the karst water that comes into contact with the air and tumbles down, causing the limestone in solution to deposit primarily where the flow is strongest. This creates the spectacular, equally high tufa dams forming curved basins, always building the dam where the most water flows out. This phenomenon has created a curtain-like waterfall system several tens of meters long and nearly ten meters high here.

Below the Veil Waterfall, we turn back into the Horotna valley branching south, starting with a cleverly constructed, informative, and engaging outdoor exhibition. In the small forest clearing, displays, tools, and huts show traditional forest livelihoods, crafts, and the lives of forest workers, and visitors can try out the ingenious devices themselves. From the flood control embankment above the clearing, the Z trail leads left but can be difficult to walk in bad weather or at the end of the season due to tree falls that occurred in the late 2010s. A wider forest road runs parallel to the hiking trail on the other side of the creek; attention must be paid to reconnecting to the hiking trail on the upper reservoir dam. Here, we climb from the creek onto a dozer road a few meters above, which forks after a few hundred meters. The left fork leads to the abandoned Ugrókő quarry and continues on the Z trail, but we soon leave this path to the right and begin the strenuous climb to the plateau along an overgrown forest road.

The western edge of the Bükk plateau

In the bushy beech forest, the path turns onto a ridge climbing up to the left. After some switchbacks, we reach the boundary of softer clay and harder limestone layers. This is clearly shown by a sharply protruding cliff and the suddenly increasing slope gradient. The path compensates for this steepness with switchbacks: on the scree-filled mountainside, the path first traverses left, then takes a sharp turn right in the cut. Near the final and steepest section of the ascent, we turn into the cliff edge and struggle through the key part of the route along a scree-filled, fallen-tree handhold. Reaching a saddle beside the cliff, we can catch our breath for a while as the path continues along the gently sloping ridge. Then the path steepens again for a short section, where we also climb a scree-filled cut to reach the dozer road leading to the Kis-Kopasz saddle.

Having reached the road, our struggles are rewarded with an easier forest road. This cart track leads up to the plateau meadows, with the first representative, the Küllő meadow in the Kis-Kopasz saddle, barely recognizable. The forest clearing, surrounded by impressive beeches and ashes, is slowly reclaimed by the forest; only a feeding rack indicates the intention at the meadow edge that originally this was a meadow preserved for herbivores. We continue our climb on the forest cart track to the hanging valley between Küllő hill and Nagy-Kopasz, where with one last effort we reach the Kopasz meadow at the rounded foothills of Nagy-Kopasz dense with beech forest.

In the middle of the meadow is a bushy hollow, the entrance to the Kopasz meadow cave, which functioned as a characteristic sinkhole while it had something to swallow. Currently, cave researchers descend into the chamber, as indicated by a bunker-like research house built next to the scaffold and entrance. On the far side of the meadow, we cut into the beech forest, leaving the Z trail going further into the plateau interior, while we turn right following the K+ trail along the plateau edge meadows.

The next stretch of over a kilometer is very atmospheric, joining a series of meadows separated by groves. As we leave the southern narrow end of Kopasz meadow, we enter the characteristic flat Kerek meadow of the Bükk plateau beyond the shallow hanging valley lined with old beeches. Crossing a rocky gate, between pine forest and beech forest stands the truly round meadow, crossed by the path turning right. Several clearings follow in succession, connected by rows of bushes and shallow valleys. The last significant meadow is the Almád-töbör meadow, which represents the typical shapes of the Bükk plateau in a large, regular circular depression.

A comfortable, flat dozer road connects at this point with the P trail climbing up from the valley, which we will follow during our further path, but first we make a short detour to the summit of our hike, the rocky viewpoint of Őr-kő.

The plateau’s guard bastion, the Őr-kő

Through the atmospheric beech forest, following the combined K+ and P trails, we reach the Őr-kő meadow, an elongated, handkerchief-sized forest clearing. A resting place indicates this is a significant site, where the path turns up to one of the most beautiful and characteristic viewpoints of the mountain range. The National Blue Trail also passes here, leaving the plateau at this point.

We cross to the far side of the meadow on the path following the K▲ trail and climb the rocky summit block in the beech forest. We reach the summit, furrowed by Devil's plough marks, through a characteristic rock gate narrow. On the south side of the summit, on top of a cliff, the ash forest opens with a typical southern Bükk view. The mountain is aptly named Őr-kő: from the rocky summit on the southwestern foothills of the mountain range, through the Felsőtárkány basin to the town of Eger and the Great Plain, it offers a magnificent panorama. A defining feature of the view is the row of Rock formations shaped like a whale's back on the edge of the Bükk plateau, whose most characteristic representatives, Tar-kő and Pes-kő, lie to our left, while to the west stretches the wooded ridge of Ördög-hegy, Sándor-hegy, and Kerek-hegy. The majestic cliffs below, dissected with grassy terraces, are one of the most beautiful and characteristic representatives of rocky grasslands in the mountain range.

We return on the K▲ trail to the Őr-kő meadow, then descend on the P trail to the junction already visited, and descend in a shallow valley north of Őr-kő to the saddle between the plateau and the Kelemen saddle. Here stand two World War graves, reminding of German soldiers who fell far from home during the war. This mountain pass is indeed a strategic point: six paths branch here on five trails, where we can choose the one best suited to our destination. The S trail leads back through the Horotna valley to the Szalajka valley, the K and P trails descend to Bélapátfalva on the other side, but now we follow the Z+ trail, which crosses another significant summit on the Kelemen saddle.

Across the Kelemen saddle to the Bácsó valley

The Z+ trail directly attacks the steep ridge sharply wedged opposite. Wooden steps were also installed to ease the climb on the extremely steep mountainside, which leads to the Kelemen saddle and the characteristic Bronze Age ramparts.

Along the surrounding ridges on the Kelemen saddle, an enclosed settlement existed covering several tens of hectares, serving as refuge for the Kyjatice culture people three thousand years ago. Within well-defined, several meters high earthworks, numerous pottery fragments were found by archaeologists; however, the main residence of the people was likely present-day Szilvásvárad, and the fortification was only used in emergencies. The old oaks mixed with beech forest atop the mountain clearly show the rampart, which is also crossed by the hiking trail — from here we follow it parallel a few meters along the Bácsó summit. From here on the scenic ridge section slopes down, providing some views of the Borsod-Heves hills below the ridge where we leave the earthworks and cross into the forming Bácsó valley at the forestry road junction. We touch a well-maintained meadow here and descend increasingly deeper into the valley through the Bácsó garden. Leaving a steep cut by traversing left, we reach the bottom of Bácsó valley at the Diviaczky Gyula spring. At the moss-covered stone basin, cool karst water quenches our thirst.

The remaining valley section continues comfortably on a wide dozer road along the valley floor. Here, near the Szalakja valley, we descend gently over the last two kilometers through surprising tranquility, mixed forests with idyllic clearings, and alder groves. At one point, the forestry-used dozer road switches over the creek, where the Z+ trail remains on the right side of the creek on an overgrown, unused forestry road. Essentially, which path we choose does not matter, both lead alongside the creek back to Szilvásvárad.

On the last section, we arrive at the edge of the village along an atmospheric chestnut tree row, where the main road turns right (Z trail) and soon leads to the bus stop. If we are lucky, we just catch the connection, but if we want to eat, drink, or look around, the main road leads back to the village center or the bazaar row, completing the circular route.