Adventures on the waves of Kevély Mountains

Itinerary:

• During our route, we follow the P marker from Csillaghegy over the Ezüst Hill and through Nagy-Kevély to the Kevély saddle, detouring only on a section to the Róka Hill quarry following the P▲ marker.
• From the Kevély saddle, we descend towards Pilisborosjenő on the K marker to the end point of the route at road 10 on the border of Solymár, making only a short detour to the "Eger Castle" on the KT marker.

Detailed description of the route:

Climbing from Csillaghegy between the yellow walls to the ridge of Róka Hill

Our route starts from the Csillaghegy HÉV stop heading towards the towering yellow walls of Róka Hill above it. If we are running low on supplies, especially liquids and food, we can still replenish here in the center - as after a few bends we leave the noisy city behind. Following the P marker, we wind along the side of Róka Hill via Ürömi, Rókahegyi and Hegymászó streets. After turning left onto Gyöngyvirág street for about one hundred meters, we arrive at the P▲ marker at the boundary of the forest and the city, the nature protection area and the civilized environment, which is also marked by a sign. The P▲ marker leads with a small detour up to the multi-level mining yards of the Róka Hill quarry, a protected geological exposure, the climbers’ school and the viewpoint.

The Róka Hill, overlooking the Danube and at the northern part of the capital, is a defining landscape element of the Pilis Mountains. Its quarry's open wound, with the yellow limestone inside, starkly contrasts with the colorful mix of forest and houses covering the terrain. Mining is believed to have begun here already in Roman times to build the nearby Aquincum fortress. Quarrying lasted until the 1940s, producing stone on multiple levels for construction within the city. Alongside the landscape scar, interesting tectonic connections, cave formations and mineral associations hidden inside the mountain also came to the surface. On the highest mining level, characteristic cave-like rounded shapes and heavily calcite-covered walls formed by thermal water rising from depth can be seen. Several collapsed cave chimneys can also be found here on the arching walls and protruding pillars. The unique appearance and proximity to the city make the quarry attractive to climbers; especially in the afternoon or during weekends, we can see climbers attacking the vertical realm.

On top of the exposed walls, a unique plant community has developed, including the highly protected woolly foxglove benefiting from this special site. Many species of lizards, including the rare Pannonian lizard, inhabit the sunlit cliffs, while ravens usually nest in the largest cavity of the highest quarry wall. The quarry’s caves serve as wintering sites for a small colony of horseshoe bats.

The climbing path between the mining yards leads past an impressive tower supported by wall stairs to the top of Róka Hill. From the quarry-walled ridge, there is a magnificent panorama of the Danube valley edged by the Buda Hills and the city's built-up area. Through the wooded clearings behind the quarry, we cut across to the nearby shrubby forest. Returning to the P marker, we traverse the top of Róka Hill sideways above the city in a mixed forest characteristic of the Budapest surrounding hills, consisting of ash, oak and pine. The winding path is generally well marked, but in the forest-edge shrubs where signposts are missing, we should follow the most worn path along a fenced pasture at the edge of a homestead.

Beyond Budapest’s border, on the sandstone ridge of Ezüst-Kevély

We proceed alongside the closed gardens of weekend houses marking the city's edge. The road along the rim marks Budapest's administrative boundary. The steep ridges of the Kevélys lie ahead as we cross the open area and reach Budakalász road. We should be careful at the busy intersection! On the other side starts a slow ascent toward the Kevélys. After a few hundred meters, we reach the entrance to the Ezüst Hill quarry, where many natural and artificial exposures show the oligocene sandstone forming the mountain.

At the eastern foot of the Kevélys, the quarry hidden in the oak forest is one of the most beautiful exposures of the hárshegy sandstone formed 30 million years ago. The sandstone containing gravel layers was harvested in many quarries around Budapest because it was well workable and yet resistant due to its quartz content. Thus, the mountain’s material was reborn as walls for many public institutions in the capital. The yellowish, sometimes reddish banding of the rock is due to the iron content of the cementing compounds binding the sand and gravel grains. On good weather days, from the upper edge of the quarry, there is a fine view of the northern ridge of the Buda Hills, the Pilis basin and the northern parts of the city.

Just before the peak of Ezüst-Kevély, behind the educational trail signboard, a small path leads to a hidden quarry yard among trees, where miners exploited the natural layering of the sandstone to carve out spacious rooms in the rock, the entrance of which is closed by a stone wall built from local material. The building called the stone shed was probably used as storage and warming room by the local quarry workers.

Summit climb to the ridge of Nagy-Kevély

In the saddle behind Ezüst-Kevély, the previous yellow layered sandstone changes to white dolomite gravel, which forms the main mass of the Kevélys and the Pilis Mountains. From here, the path becomes steeper and rockier approaching the summit of Nagy-Kevély. On the ridge, the thinning karst shrub forest and the cliffs forming the southern rim progressively open up the surrounding landscape frequently.

As the steepness of the ridge lessens, we reach a rockier, more open area. From the rocky breaks before the summit, one of the most beautiful panoramas of the mountain range opens, deeply below us the city dotted with colorful houses and its agglomeration, and near us the forest mass of the Buda Hills, while the Mátra and Gerecse also appear on the eastern and western horizons. If weather permits, it is worth lingering a little on the summit block rocks to rest. If the elements turn harsh, covered benches a few hundred meters before the peak and in the Kevély saddle offer some comfort for resting and recharging.

The summit region is characterized by a rugged karst shrub forest interspersed with small clearings and rocks. The sunny, rocky southern side is home to warmth-loving and drought-tolerant dolomite rock meadows where a unique ecosystem has formed. Dolomite dissolves poorly but crumbles easily due to its brittleness, mainly on sun-exposed sides subject to temperature fluctuations. On these continuously eroding surfaces, only sparse ground cover can develop, with scant mineral content from the dolomite entering the already poor soil. Only specialized species can survive in such extreme environments, such as the common broomrape, red valerian, cat’s tail speedwell, mullein, or the highly protected Hungarian snowbell. Let us respect the habitat of the living beings here and observe this fragile community by staying on the tourist trail!

Arriving at the Kevély saddle, a peaceful forest clearing welcomes us, intersected by several hiking trails, with a covered resting place offering modest comfort for tourists arriving at this strategic point. This saddle, distant from the city noise but still easily accessible, was the site of the Kevély-saddle (later Stromfeld Aurél) Tourist House built after World War I, of which only an information board and a stone bench remain as a memorial. Members of the Nature Lovers Hiking Association carried up the materials on their backs and built the house, making a cozy refuge with a kitchen and sleeping quarters over five years. Unfortunately, after nationalization, the building was transferred to the local forest management and burned down in 1992, just one day before the Budapest Nature Lovers Association was to take over the house.

Exploring the slopes below the Kevélys

Amid a confusion of markers, we turn onto the well-painted K marker along the southern slope of Kevély on the rocky, dolomite-gravel dozer road. At a road cut crossing a series of cliffs, an information board draws our attention to the Gyopáros Cave hiding among the rocks, which can be reached by climbing a few meters up the well-trodden path. The cave is more of a vault, reminding of a gaping fish mouth among the rocks, but with a 2-3 meter high vaulted ceiling, it is a cozy living cave. The enclosing dolomite is less characterized by dissolution, so mainly along bedding planes and cracks, exfoliating and freeze-thaw hollow cavities develop, as here on the southern slope of Kevély.

The dozer road descends evenly, blending into the increasingly gentle slope. With decreasing steepness, the soil layer thickens, and after the karst shrub forest so far, an oak forest with a dense canopy develops around us. Crossing a contour path, we leave the National Blue Trail on a slight detour following the KT marker, which after connecting to the contour path shifts into a track barely 50 meters away between the bushes. The marker is worn but the path is hard to leave, except in one place where further passage is cut by erosion, requiring us to traverse sideways.

Among the bushes, strange stone walls emerge: a rotation model of Eger Castle, which only partially but vividly preserves the set built for the filming of the movie "Eger Stars." The castle gate and a couple of towers still prominently stand on a clearing increasingly becoming overgrown with shrubs. Looking back over the towers, the white cliffs of Kevély arch behind us, which can also be well recognized in the film. It is interesting to watch the film made in the 1970s to see how much more spacious and sparse the set surrounding clearing was back when the area was still grazed.

From the ruins, we turn on a level track towards Pilisborosjenő, then after less than a kilometer and some climbing, we arrive at the rim of a quarry with special rock formations. The camel rocks named dolomite towers rise 10-15 meters above the quarry rim. On the other side of the quarry, a popular viewpoint opens at the edge of white dolomite walls; here, we can study the layering of ancient sediments on the quarry walls.

After the quarry, rejoining the K marker of the National Blue Trail, we traverse in a wooded strip. From the neighboring riding stable’s clearing, we get a glimpse back to the Nagy-Kevély peak, then follow the trail leading to Calvary, passing by the outermost houses of Pilisborosjenő along the border of arable land. For a short time, we also enter the village via Kőfaragó and Erdő streets. From the intersection here, we can turn left back to Pilisborosjenő center on the KT marker, but it is worth continuing further south on the K marker, as after the houses we walk in a very charming mossy oak forest. On the path cutting through moss cushions, the gravelly bedrock unfolds. The forest on sandstone and conglomerate covers the area of a former quarry; the hard but well-shapable stone was often used in construction in Budapest and surrounding villages.

In the twisting oak forest, the path follows a serpentine course resembling tree trunks while searching for further passage. Beyond the flat top of Köves-bérc, we cut in the hillside along the returning stone-carrying road, which connects with difficulty to a residential street next to road 10. Beside houses, we descend steeply into the valley of Aranyhegyi stream, and along the always busy road 10, our hike ends at the bus stop.

Detailed route description can be found under the Description menu item.