Cave exploration hike on the edge of Kis-fennsík

Itinerary:

• We start on the PT trail marked by a red heart shape.
• Switching to P+ markings, we touch the entrance of the Kecske-lyuk cave.
• We turn onto the P◼ trail.
• We make a short detour on the PΩ markings to the Büdös-pest chamber.
• We turn right on the P trail.
• With a short out-and-back detour, we descend to the Szeleta Cave on the PΩ markings.
• We follow the P markings for a long stretch.
• Switching to P● markings, we reach the Csókás spring and the Csókási Cave.
• From the spring, we switch to the P+ markings.
• On the detour of the PΩ trail, we reach the Udvar-kő Cave, also known as Dante's Hell.
• From Keskeny-lyuk meadow, we follow the Z markings to the zoo.
• We return to the starting point on the Z+ trail.

Detailed description of the hike:

Spring caves at the bottom of Forrás Valley

Starting from the entrance of Csanyik Valley at the pharmacy parking lot, we follow the PT trail (Csanyik blood circle) marked by a red heart, which leads us through a much more atmospheric area to the entrance of Forrás Valley than the P+ marked dozer road. From the parking lot, we head towards the entrance of the pharmaceutical factory but then turn left towards the bottom of the valley, crossing a small bridge over the stream and following the trail across the Csanyik meadow. Along the meandering brook on a forest path, after another stream crossing, we reach a forest clearing with an old house at the edge. The streambed blocking our path fills with water only during rainy periods; otherwise, the water from Forrás Valley flows below the surface between stones here. There are several such sections in Forrás Valley, where the waterway flows deeper underground as a sinking stream.

On the other side, we find Király-kút, one of the most reliable springs in the range, which is used for Miskolc's water supply. The concrete spring outlet flows consistently, while most of the water must leave the spring basin underground through pipes. Despite this, the small meadow lined with centuries-old beech trees offers a pleasant picnic spot with rest and firewood areas.

Changing to the P+ markings, we enter a closed limestone gorge with spectacular karst formations right at the beginning of the path. In the shady gorge forest, we walk on a rocky cart road, and within the first hundred meters, hollow rock recesses whiten on the steep hillside. Less than a hundred meters to the right, beyond a small clearing, a triangular dark cave mouth appears in the rock face. Climbing up to the cave level, we can look into the spacious, misty throat of Kecske-lyuk cave. During rainy periods, a small stream flows inside; upon entering the entrance chamber, the cool, damp breath of the mountain's interior becomes increasingly noticeable. The wet climate in front of the cave is ideal for ferns and mosses growing from the rock face, while the spacious cave hall is a permanent habitat for valuable arthropod flora. Here, Gebhart's blind catch spider and a unique spider fauna separated by light and temperature were first described at the beginning of the 20th century. Behind the cave's narrowing entrance hall, the underground stream can be followed for hundreds of meters, where its widening effect is clearly visible on the wall in horizontal bands of grooves of various depths.

After the cave adventures, we continue our hike in the gorge but soon reach a more open area, where we curve up the hillside on a forestry road following the P◼ markings. At the start of the climb, we make a short detour at a branch on the hillside along the PΩ trail. Just a few hundred meters above, a new cave mouth gapes in the rocky hillside: an older, disused spring cave representing a former level. Büdös-pest consists of a single spacious, funnel-shaped chamber; its far end once opened to the surface but has now collapsed.

Though the cave itself is less mystical than the deep Kecske-lyuk, its sediment is all the more interesting. While only a few cave relics were found at Kecske-lyuk by researchers in the early 20th century, Büdös-pest yielded Ice Age animal bones, Stone Age tools, and several Neolithic human bones from its fill. Extinct Ice Age animals such as cave bears, cave lions, and cave hyenas were represented along with mammoths, aurochs, woolly rhinoceroses, and giant deer, illustrating the former fauna of Bükk. The fauna of today's Arctic and mountain regions was also present here: remains of elk, reindeer, and chamois surfaced from the cave, deposited over more than a hundred thousand years of alternating climates.

Returning from the unique, mossy cliff, we continue through the forested hillside. Climbing parallel ridges, we reach the foot of Dolka Hill in a much brighter ash and oak forest than the gorge. On the ridge above the Szinva valley, we join the P trail, which we follow long and continuously to Csókás. Below us nestles Alsóhámor in the busy Szinva valley. Circumventing the small basin housing the village from above, we reach a flatter, wooded plateau, Szeleta Hill. It is certainly worth a roughly one-kilometer detour to visit the Szeleta cave opening on the edge of the plateau, from where there is a breathtaking view of the confluence of the Szinva and Garadna valleys, the Palotaszálló, and the cave itself reveals startling dimensions inside the mountain.

On the southern edge of Kis-fennsík, on Szeleta Hill above Hámor

We follow the PΩ trail south across the plateau, which is made uneven by several karst depressions called sinkholes. One such sinkhole with a rocky bottom hides the Szeleta pit cave, penetrating nearly vertically over a hundred meters into the mountain’s interior. Further along the trail on the edge of the plateau stands a wood platform, a panorama point that protects the surface and offers splendid views of one of Bükk's most beautiful and popular tourist attractions, the castle-like Palotaszálló and the terraced Hámor hanging garden below. Descending a few tens of meters along a steep path on the rocky slope with southeast-tilted layers, the dark mouth of Szeleta cave emerges from dense shrub forest.

As we enter the rock gate, we are seized by a sensation mixed with respect and emotion. It is as if entering a large dome, a spacious hall surrounded by echoing walls that resemble a temple of nature. This site is significant in Hungarian prehistoric archaeology and early human research as it was here that the ancient human presence was scientifically proven for the first time in Hungary. Beautifully formed, bay leaf-shaped spearheads and many hunted animal remains were found in the cave layers. The finds of humans who lived here from 130,000 to 20,000 years ago elevated this location to one of Europe's most important prehistoric reference points. The stone tool-using group detected here was named the Szeletian culture.

On the edge of Kis-fennsík

We return along the previously taken detour to Szeleta Hill and continue on the P trail, turning left westwards. A strong climb ensues, leading to almost 450 meters elevation. On the top of Dolka Hill, only ruins remain, but in the second half of the 20th century, a military radar station reception building controlling eastern Hungary stood here. The radar was on the Bükk plateau but could be most reliably observed and communicated from here at Dolka Hill, and information was transmitted from here to the military facility near Lake Hámor.

Then a kilometer-long traverse follows through oak forests dissected by clearings below the Dolka ridge. Occasionally, from the Lencsés slope, we can see the long, deep incision of the Garadna valley and the steep descent of the Bükk plateau. The path remains almost level for kilometers. From Lencsés saddle, we walk on the ridge, where one can clearly see the alternation of forests following the exposure of the hillside. On the northern slopes, beech dominates in dense, dark forests fading toward the interior, while sunny southern slopes descending into the Garadna valley are covered by oak forests with rich undergrowth.

After nearly 3 kilometers of leveling, we enter the side of Kovács-kő, where we climb through beech-shaded Kaszás-rét valley to Csókás. Be alert: after the short climb, at the edge of the forest fragmented by clearings near the rocky summit, we branch off from the forestry road-following P trail and take a less-used cart road along the P● trail to Csókás spring.

The spring is a seasonally flowing, stone-lined well on the edge of a spacious sinkhole. Its catchment is small, so its yield is not significant and quickly disappears in the Csókási Cave opening at the bottom of the deep sinkhole. However, next to the well, a very atmospheric fire pit surrounded by a covered pavilion and forest huts welcomes visitors with benches and tables. The forest has been preserved around the spring, so we can cool off and rest in the shade of old beeches in this idyllic environment.

From here, we turn eastward and delve deep into the mysterious region of Kis-fennsík characterized by sinkholes and dark forests.

 Deep in Kis-fennsík

From Csókás, we set out east on the P+ trail, bypassing the sizable sinkhole ending in a sinkhole cave. Amidst Devil’s plows, we delve deeper into the depression, which is more a row of connected sinkholes than a true valley. Like an enchanted world, strange crater-like depressions reveal themselves one by one, each a tiny separate world in the Bükk wilderness.

At the central area, about a kilometer from Csókás, a PΩ trail leads down on the side of one sinkhole to the base of the hollow. The funnel-like depression surrounded by moss-covered rocks disappears into a gigantic throat locally called “Dante’s Hell.” A fitting name: the stair-stepped rocky towers end in a hall-like chamber under a rock vault filled with tree trunks and stone debris. Udvar-kő is essentially a collapsed cave chamber; the rock walls are covered with speleothems such as calcite precipitations and stalagmites. The lowest chamber is also accessible under a rock vault, with shallow cavities in the wall. The unique microclimate of the collapse, similar to a gorge forest, provides a home to lush vegetation covering the rock surface. After snow-rich winters, frozen snow can still be found here in late spring, and the temperature remains pleasantly mild in summer.

Climbing out of the unique chamber, we continue on the P+ trail, which meanders like a roller coaster through the sinkholes. With a long right turn and gentle climb, we emerge from the valley. Several highly protected caves open on the opposite hillside; the most interesting among them is the Hidebrand Jenő Cave, whose closed chambers house a cultic past. On the walls, scratches imitating cave bear claw marks were found, while in one of the innermost rooms, piles and hearth remains were uncovered. The cave is too secluded and deep to be a permanent residence, so experts consider it a site of an as-yet unexplained prehistoric cult.

We skirt around the hill crowned by a pasture to our left, the Kaszás-rét, reaching the Forrás-völgyi saddle at the meeting of the roads in a black pine forest. Below us stretches one of Kis-fennsík’s most beautiful valleys, marked by a sharp collapse sinking deep and filled with karst phenomena. We stay on the ridge to continue our path through hay meadows and shrubby, park-like forests on the Z trail heading eastward to the left. Before setting out on the roller coaster route connecting the hilltops, it’s worth exploring the nearby Kaszás-réti backflow on an unmarked trail west of the junction. Here, a stream flowing in the shallow valley disappears in a large arc in a sinkhole at the bottom of a sinkhole, to resurface about 100 meters lower in Felső-forrás spring. Directly above, on the rocky section, opens the Lilla Cave, which formerly functioned as a surface water sinkhole.

On the last leg of our journey, we follow the Z trail describing several kilometers of arc as we reach the edge of Miskolc at Majális Park. We still climb Galya Hill (Great and Little Galya), from whose side we can look back at our route from the flowered meadow of Keskeny-lyuk. From here, the mountain ridge surrounding Forrás Valley, Kis-fennsík, and, a little farther back, the northern edge of the Bükk plateau towering over Garadna Valley are clearly visible. At the highest point of the meadow, be attentive, as the Z trail turns left onto a wooded hilltop. The section crossing Galya Hill, though offering hardly any view, promises a pleasant walk filled with clearings and groves with many hidden corners. The eastern slope of Galya Hill drops steeply, where we must descend on a rocky, rubble-strewn path along the northeastern ridge.

Back to Diósgyőr

Below Ortás Hill, we cross the railway tracks of the small railway to Mahóca in gently sloping forest. Once the railway ran all the way to Örvény-kő and to Farkas-pond — there were even plans to extend it further, but contrary to these, during the change of regime, the last section of the track was simply stolen. If we have informed ourselves about the schedule and timed well, we can also travel to Diósgyőr by small train.

The last two to three kilometers are just cooldown at the end of the tour. Dense forests alternate along the wide forestry road, with more and more hikers indicating the proximity of the city.

We reach the fence of the wildlife park, beyond which surprising animal sounds sometimes signal their presence. At the buffet, we come out to a charming grove called Királyasztal, filled with centuries-old oaks. The rows of parked cars somewhat spoil the overall impression, which is a disappointing sight after a hike deep in the mountain range. From here, by bus going to the wildlife park or walking further on the asphalt on the Z+ trail, we reach the end point of our tour.