Exploring the varied landscape of Hosszú Hill

Itinerary:

• From Csobánka, the Z trail leads up the valley of the Kovács stream to the Szentkút, then through the Hosszú Hill to the border of Pilisszentkereszt.
• With the Z◼ mark, we turn right towards the Som Hill tourist house, from where the K◼ trail leads down to the entrance of the Dera Gorge.
• We cross the gorge on the K trail and undulate along the side above the Kovács stream valley to the border of Csobánka.
• On the Z trail, on a familiar route, we return to our starting point at Csobánka.

Detailed description of the route

In the valley of the Kovács stream

We start from the western end of Csobánka, from Plandics Square, going uphill on the Z trail in the valley of the Kovács stream. The village settled in the mountain basin was already recorded in the Árpád era; during the Turkish era, the population emigrated and was resettled at the end of the 17th century by Serbs fleeing the Turks. At first, they dealt with shepherding, then with planting orchards and flower gardens. The area, still ethnically diverse today, was augmented in the 18th century with Swabians, Slovaks, and Gypsies alongside the Hungarian population. The old village was populated by Hungarians and Thuringian Germans, while the Gypsy community that settled at the end of the century practiced blacksmithing on the edge of the village. The Serbs returned home after the two world wars, while the Swabian population of over a thousand was relocated, replaced by Hungarians from Upper Hungary.

We soon leave the houses of the village, and after the sign indicating the boundary of the settlement, at the cormorant signpost, we enter the national park area, following a creeping cart road in the wide valley of the creek. Nature conservation aims to maintain the species-rich area of valuable mountain meadows; the marshy meadows along the creek provide habitat for valuable wildlife. The hidden lifestyle-living, grass-hiding, camouflaged hazel grouse is the area's strictly protected bird. This species, which represents a value of half a million forints, specifically prefers such wet meadows where its inexhaustible food consisting of grass seeds and insects awaits it like a laid table.

In the woods of the Hosszú Hill

At a clearing surrounded by oaks, we turn up the side of Hosszú Hill. After crossing dense forests and a short climb, we reach the grove hiding the Holy Well. A striking forest chapel and benches welcome us in this intimate forest section, with a shallow valley stretching along its right side, originally with the well at its source.

The spring was a holy place for Serbian Orthodox believers, where several miraculous healings and visions occurred according to stories. As a result, many pilgrimage groups visited it, and the Orthodox Elijah's Day Mass was replaced by regular Catholic liturgy held every Sunday from Easter to All Saints. The chapel was built in 1936 for the convenience of the faithful. The spring is located below and to the right, under a stone retaining wall, at the edge of the ancient beech-covered ravine. A massive staircase leads down to the spring, although the spring promising healing was closed behind an iron grate.

We continue the climb on the Z trail through the oak forest. We cross a bulldozer road, then with a winding line, we reach the wooded ridge. We arrive at the tectonically breaking front of the layers forming the mountain in the karst scrub forest. The path bends to a rocky viewpoint on a clearing. The panorama opens exactly in the opposite direction from our previous journey, as the mood of the place contrasts with the mountain-surrounded Kovács stream basin. We stand in the middle of the long-extending limestone front, halfway between the impressive Pilis block and the boldly sky-high Kevélyek. Below us stretches the Pilisvörösvár basin towards the southeastern horizon, to the Danube valley, where the city's buildings already cover the area. Above Óbuda, the hilly, tower-studded Hármashatár Hill marks the beginning of the winding range of the Buda Hills, which join the whale-back shape block of Pilis at the western horizon.

After the viewpoint, we stay briefly on the flat ridge, then descend gently through the oak forest of the sloping plateau of Hosszú Hill. An information board explains the Pilisi Parkerdő project, which aims to model the natural renewal of forest cover and study the environmental impacts of different forest management methods. Along the pleasant forests, we join a bulldozer road we crossed earlier, which we leave at a fork, turning right onto another bulldozer road marked with Z◼. Along the way, we pass near the Som Hill tourist house, where the Z◼ trail also turns in, while we continue descending along the K◼ trail towards the valley of the Kovács stream. The Som Hill tourist house was beautifully renovated in the 2000s while preserving its original function. The building sits on the edge of the rocky gorge cut, which we also experience on an increasingly steep path leading down to the creek. The cobbled path soon reaches the Kovács stream lined by willow and alder groves, which we experience closely for the first time during our hike.

Back to Csobánka through the Dera Gorge

As we join the K trail at the bottom of the valley, we immediately start with a stream crossing, which is followed by many similar attempts in the narrow incision of the Dera Gorge. The popular hiking spot, however, is well-equipped, as shown by the wooden bridges over the stream. Massive structures are needed, as many people gather during hiking times due to the proximity of the capital, and the stream crossing itself is a challenge with its rocky bed cut into limestone layers. After heavy rainfalls, a significant flood rushes down the rocky gorge, though we can also experience the same place completely dry and waterless. In fact, several sinkholes line the bed, hidden from the untrained eye by thick rock debris. Due to the excellent dissolution and fissuring characteristic of limestone, the stream also flows under the surface in cave passages and narrow cracks.

However, we follow the path opened by the water on the surface, which is often very steep and rocky, even if the many people have trammeled the path comfortably wide. Shortly after entering the gorge, descents and steep traverses follow. In the middle section, we bypass a few significant boulders, although most have fallen into the bed. Soon we also see where the rocks came from to the valley floor: in the lower section, leaning walls, layered limestone slabs separated along their planes, bulge towards us. The stream always erodes and cuts the weaker, cracked rock along its course, so we can look deep thanks to the slow but steady work over millennia.

Unfortunately, the spectacular section ends soon – the gorge itself is barely one kilometer long, and as suddenly as it began, so quickly we say goodbye to it as we cross the stream coming from the Holy Well of Pilisszentkereszt. On the other side, small meadows and campsites, as well as a large parking lot welcome us, from where the flood of tourists also arrives.

After the parking lot, we cross the stream one last time, leaving the crowd behind as the massive oak forest gradually envelops us. From here on, a few kilometers of almost monotonous forest section follow, but the pleasant forest bulldozer road bordered by oaks with old heritage trees undulates on the hillside until the border of Csobánka. Along game protection nets, we reach clearings next to the village, where the new generation of saplings already grows, occasionally offering views of the surrounding mountains. Opposite, beyond the pastures, the small village of Csobánka nestled among wooded hills can be seen with the truly modest cones of the Kevélyek in the background.

On the meadow below the Holy Well, we join the route already traveled at the beginning of our tour, on which, with views of familiar meadows, Oszoly, Csúcs Hill, and the Kevélyek, we return to Csobánka along the Z trail.