By narrow-gauge train, on rails and by foot to the Bükk “fountain”

Itinerary

• The K trail leads from the Stimecz House railway stop to the hostel.
• From the house, we walk the first half of the nature trail along the K/ mark by the Vörös-kő stream.
• From the nature trail, staying in the valley and heading straight, we briefly turn onto a unmarked path, then also on an unmarked but wide forestry dozer road ascending to the spring. The last few 10 meters we make along a path narrowing from the signs to the right.
• From the Vöröskővölgyi Lower Spring, we return along the same route to the nature trail.
• At the nature trail, we turn left on the K/ mark, climb to the ridge, then turn right and descend returning to the Stimecz House stop.

Detailed description of the tour 

Nature trail by the stream

Our tour starts from the upper Tárkány narrow-gauge railway terminal, the Stimecz House stop. Thanks to the forestry railway, we begin our modest-scale hike deep in the Bükk forest. During the train ride, we already experience the valley's atmosphere, offering a taste of the wild side of the mountain range between old floodplain forests and steeply descending hillsides. Naturally, the human impact is visible at the terminal: under fruit trees, we arrive at the edge of a forest clearing where two larger covered pavilions welcome those wishing to relax in the forest, so we can wait in bad weather until conditions improve and reassemble. Thanks to numerous benches and tables, all travelers can comfortably find a place on both sides of the terminal. Just a stone's throw from the upper pavilion, along the leftward route, we find the Stimecz House, which can be rented as a hostel from the Carpathian Association, making your tour more exciting with a night in the forest. The Stimecz House was built here because of the timber yard located at the meeting of the valleys, where wood felled in the surrounding mountains was received from loggers and transported to processing plants by the forestry railway. In front of the house, there are fire pits, benches, and tables.

Leaving the forest clearing in front of the hostel, we enter the dense Bükk wilderness on a comfortable path crossing the flat valley bottom with hornbeam-oak forest. From the texts on the boards set up at resting places by the stream, we first get acquainted with trees, shrubs, flowers, and mushrooms in the best setting of the lush forest and can also find the living beings seen in the pictures. The comfortably laid path crosses the watercourse twice, and from a narrow wooden bridge, we can look down at the rushing Vörös-kő stream under us. Although its spring is intermittent, the stream is permanently present here because several springs drawing karst water from the surrounding mountains emerge in the valley bottom. The water runs swiftly, gently winding, piled up behind roots and branches, forming small waterfalls and pools.

The nature trail climbs slightly from the valley floor, then after a panel introducing insects, it turns toward the ridge. Here we leave it and, crossing the stream, an unmarked but clearly visible path joins the forestry dozer road. From here, we travel about 4 kilometers back and forth on this former narrow-gauge railway embankment.

Visiting Bükk’s natural fountain

We initially cross a longitudinal meadow, where a carpet of wildflowers hosts a multitude of small insects; butterflies and beetles feed at this colorfully set table, and in autumn, stag deer compete for the females’ favors. At the meadow’s end, we step under the canopy of old beech trees by the stream bank, and the comfortable but steeply rising dozer road narrows between steep hillsides. The mountain ridge stretches about two hundred meters above us on both sides, but we overcome more than a hundred meters of elevation in the valley over the next 1.5 kilometers. Among old beech trees on the rocky slope with silvery trunks, we have a broad view; this is a preferred habitat of mouflons imported from Corsica, which we have also seen in the game park next to the Varróház.

The dozer road finally reaches the border of the strictly protected area marked by a sign with a crane, where we turn right toward the Vöröskővölgyi Lower Spring. A small path with hollow-trunk, ancient hornbeam enters among the shrubs, where first we see the information board, and behind it, the spring emerging from the hillside. From the center of a circular stone basin, the intermittent spring bursts forth, shooting karst water about 1 meter high depending on the water flow, while at other times only barely trickling to the surface; the spring basin is mostly dry throughout the year. The board explains the geological background of the spring operation and shows photos of its earlier state before the basin was made, when there was still a crystal-clear lake sparkling among the debris in the hillside hollow.

The upper spring, which rises further up the valley but cannot be visited due to a lack of a tourist trail, still looks just like this today. Because of the steep slope, many fallen trunks lie across the spring, forming a bridge between the two sides. The "logs" invite crossing but mostly, it is dangerous to balance on the unstable logs. The near-natural conditions here provide a home for many small creatures; for example, the dead trunks are full of larvae and insects, and we can also see long "mustached" longhorn beetles, stag beetles, and rhinoceros beetles.

Returning, we take the known dozer road again but it is worth checking out the other branch of the nature trail near the Stimecz House. Of course, it is important to catch the narrow-gauge train going downhill unless you are prepared for a long walk along the rails.

The upper branch of the nature trail, on the Tekerület ridge path

If there is still time, it is worth walking the nature trail’s ridge branch to discover the distinguished oak groves after the valley tour. From the unmarked path, we connect to the nature trail running on the opposite side of the stream, which quickly reaches the mountain ridge with a hairpin turn. From the branching point, the trail introduces the local animal representatives, but more importantly, in the mossy, light oak forest of the sharply protruding ridge, we get to know a forest very different and more open than our precedents on this journey. Thanks to moisture-retaining moss and sunlight, fungi are more likely here, as oak forests always provide a richer understory and more forest flowers than the shaded valley floor forest. The ridge narrows down to barely one meter wide, after which it steeply drops on both sides, sometimes flashing with rock outcrops. Despite this, the ridge descends gently and mostly stays level, so expect a comfortable walk. The last panels show the local wildlife and large game, but they can only be seen live with great luck. However, it is worth searching for their footprints on wet, muddy parts, especially by the stream, where they come to drink in the evenings.

At the end of the route, we descend faster, and just behind the Stimecz House, we reach the dozer road coming from the neighboring valley, leading to the narrow-gauge railway terminal. If we miss the return train but there is a later train, we can spend time at the playground under the terminal or on the meadow by the stream.