At the two poles of Dunazug

Itinerary:

• We hike up to Dobogókő from Pilisszentkereszt along the P trail.
• From Dobogókő, we descend to the Dera Gorge along the K+ trail.
• The K trail leads through the Dera Gorge back to Pilisszentkereszt.
• Within the village, we return to our starting point along the P trail.

Detailed tour description:

Climb to Dobogókő

Starting from the center of Pilisszentkereszt, from the Pilisszántó junction, we head north into the forest following the inviting P trail. We soon say farewell to the mountainous settlement, whose predecessor was abandoned during the Turkish occupation. The Pauline monks who resettled the Pilis area invited Slav families to restart the cultivation of the region. They primarily engaged in forestry work and grazing livestock, traces of which still shape the landscape. As we travel through the mountains, the village is surrounded by groves and overgrown pastures.

We ascend steadily on the path leading to Peres Hill, where a narrow path turns into a strengthening forest. The initial steepness softens at the northern saddle of Peres Hill; in the hollow of the gentle hillside, we reach a pleasant old forest. Here, halfway between Pilisszentkereszt and Dobogókő, lies the place named after the Frozen Soldier, commemorating the last resting place of a soldier returning from the War of Independence. The village pub had already invited the soldier, who arrived in a snowstorm, to stay, but he hurried on to his family. Weeks later, he was found frozen on the hillside, with a half-drunk bottle of wine in his hand.

At the saddle, we cross the forestry bulldozer road coming from Király-kút. On the other side, turning onto the ridge, we continue climbing towards the summit through a sunny oak forest. Still in a forest environment, we reach the houses of Dobogókő’s resort area. This is an interesting mix of forest and inhabited surroundings, with a parking lot and bus terminus at its center. We can arrive here by bus if we want to skip the uphill climb of the tour.

At Dobogókő

We emerge on the other side of the road at Dobogókő summit, where the first mountain hut in the Budapest area hills stands: the Baron Eötvös Loránd Lodge—actually, there are two. The log cabin was built first in 1898 but quickly proved too small due to the surge in popularity of hiking, so a stone house was added in 1906. Currently, the stone building operates as a restaurant, warming place, and tourist accommodation, while the original log cabin houses a hiking museum.

Behind the buildings on the hilltop is the popular viewpoint: the observation terrace of Dobogókő’s volcanic rock tower. The view is truly impressive: the previously gentle terrain turns into steep, rocky mountains, with the Rám Hill and Vadálló Cliffs rock towers opposite, the Danube’s ribbon arriving among the steep hills. Receding at a distance from the Danube, the Börzsöny-centred volcanic massif dominates the horizon, bordered like a mantle by the Carpathian mountain ranges in good weather.

Returning to the Dobogókő walking path, we descend eastwards gently, now joining the K+ trail, which leaves the built environment of the summit behind, passing behind the decaying panel hotel, next to the yurt accommodation and the Zsindelyes restaurant. To the left, on the steep northern slope, we get a last glimpse of the Dobogókő ski slope clearing. Then, below the TV tower, we leave the asphalt onto the forest road of Kerek-bükk. At the old forest clearing, we sharply turn right and continue along a clearing, descending on increasingly steep terrain through young shrubbery.

From the Old Clearing to the Holy Well

We might think that the Old Clearing Hill is named after the forest sections segmented by clearings on the hillside, but in fact, the name commemorates yet another soldier’s death here. A soldier returning from the War of Independence rested here with his wage in his pocket, but was treacherously killed by a mower in hope of seizing his pay.

At the first fork of the fire protection clearing, we turn right, shortly after entering a mosaic forest of old neglected trees. For a short section, we join the path arriving from Király-kúti saddle, which we crossed slightly lower at the start of our tour, and a bend later, we enter a dense oak forest.

We cross a forming small valley, whose shady, secluded beech woods offer a quiet forest refuge after Dobogókő’s heavily used oaks. Here the constructed environment, tourist crowds, and even the woodcutters' diligence do not disturb the forest’s silence and naturalness. With a short climb, we come out on the other side of the valley basin, bypass the Bald Hill, and continue descending on the southern side. We must pay attention after the saddle, because the K+ trail diverges onto a nearly level path, adding a large detour through the hillside to a road cut, where we once again arrive with a lively descent into the upper part of Mogyorós ditch, near the water-rich Holy Well.

The local faithful have arranged the spring surroundings with touching devotion; for nearly two centuries, locals have revered the water outflow here. In the mid-19th century, they built a small chapel at the spring in honor of the Virgin Mary, who appeared near Lourdes city. In the mid-20th century, a miracle occurred: a 19-year-old paralyzed girl recovered from illness due to the spring water’s effect; several people saw white doves or even the Virgin Mary appearing near the site. The feast of the Visitation is celebrated here with a pilgrimage, and Mass is held every year at the shrine established around the spring. Until World War I, the water surfacing here was bottled as soda water, carbonated naturally.

In the Dera Gorge

From the spring, we can return shortcut to Pilisszentkereszt along the S+ trail, but it is worth following the brook born from the spring on the K+ trail, which flows into Pilis’s perhaps most spectacular and accordingly popular rocky world, the Dera Gorge. Along the oak forest at the gorge’s edge, paralleling the main road, we reach again the K sign, part of the National Blue Trail, near the parking lot below the gorge and follow it towards the village.

We soon enter the narrow rocky gorge, dodging limestone blocks on its stony bed, crossing the Kovács stream several times using wooden bridges. In this geological fissure carved by flowing water, we can look deeper and deeper into the mountains’ interior, formed by the neighboring Pilis limestone rocks. This gorge with its white walls is the exact opposite of Dobogókő’s volcanic rock tower: the rocks here formed much earlier, 220 million years ago, from the calcareous skeletons of animals living in the ancient Tethys Ocean. Caves open in the easily soluble rock; thus, at the gorge’s upper part, several sinkholes hide from the untrained eye, where much of the stream’s flow disappears during floods. What stands out is the almost inexhaustible number of tourists, who visit the site due to the gorge’s attractiveness and relative shortness.

We arrive in streamside groves at the village outskirts, turning off the gorge’s upper end, crossing the stream twice, and finally returning to the center along the P trail, turning right among the dense houses.