Heights and depths in the Visegrád Mountains

Itinerary:

• From Dobogókő follow the S trail to the Lom-hegyi saddle.
• From the Lom-hegyi saddle follow the P trail straight ahead, then turn left with it.
• The P trail leads out to the Sikárosi meadow.
• It joins the K trail, which we follow back to Dobogókő.

Detailed description of the hike:

Making the unfrequented Visegrád Mountains passable

Before starting, there’s still an opportunity to look out from the Dobogókő viewing terrace (the stone pavement inspiring the name of the place) and to eat or drink at the Baró Eötvös Loránd Shelter. Its namesake was the president of the cult Hungarian nature walking organization, the Carpathian Association in Hungary, and later the Hungarian Tourist Association that split off from it - also a minister, physicist, and recognized mountaineer. Besides the stone building, the park also has a smaller house with a turret; this was the first Dobogókő shelter, built in 1898, making it one of the oldest tourist houses in our country. At the time, crossing the mountain range was mostly only attempted by multi-day hikes, which justified building accommodation in the central area. As traffic quickly outgrew the modest size, the stone building was handed over in 1906 and expanded twice in the following two decades. Alongside the excellent kitchen and lodging, inside and around the house there are many memorials to notable figures of the early era of Hungarian nature walking, as well as to tourist houses of the country's mountain regions. The proximity to Budapest and its excellent location immediately elevated Dobogókő as a significant site for organized hiking, but its important role didn’t protect the settlement from everything: in the decades after the nationalization in 1949, the conditions of the two buildings deteriorated until they were completely ruined. In the 1990s the MTE restored the shelter with prolonged work, while the smaller house had already been renewed earlier in the 1980s - since then the Tourist Museum has been operating in it. Today the shelter and its park are relatively tidy and lively, but the resort as a whole cannot be said to be: for example, the Hotel Nimród is decaying with broken windows and gutted.

Our route passes along the asphalt road, which was created after the drawing of the Trianon borders as a result of development of this now important site. In the 1930s, the house received electric lighting and flowing water replaced cisterns, and the significance of the access road was underlined by a prime ministerial handover ceremony. The construction of other buildings in the mountain settlement and new hotels gained momentum especially after World War II. On the S trail we pass among weekend houses and soon enter the forest. Until our return we will not encounter any buildings.

Tectonic checkerboard

Although the terrain does not change significantly, in time we leave behind the Dobogókő plateau. After the Andesite volcanism ceased, the mountain range eroded substantially (several hundred meters) and fractured like a checkerboard under tectonic forces. Slowly, the structural lines that outline the "checkerboard fields" (faults) shifted vertically: blocks rose and in some cases also tilted. This also happened to the Dobogókő block, which after the volcanism period flattened due to intense rains in the subtropical climate (as erosion evened it out), while its northeastern slope rose. This created the sharp-edged escarpment – edged by Dobogókő and the Thirring rocks series. Streams cut into the opposite side: important water sources of the mountains are here, e.g. the Bükkös and Dera streams originate here.

Winter stories

On the southeastern spur of the Dobogókő plateau, we wander along the narrowing ridge of Hosszú Hill, the narrow path leads through an oak forest sunlit. There is no trace left, but in this area one of the important facilities of the skiing sport which flourished after Trianon stood: a ski jump, operating from 1923, taking advantage of the steep slope sloping towards the Bükkös stream.

Soon we reach the Peres Hill saddle, to the Frosty Soldier - although the memorial pillar is no longer standing, the name refers to a soldier who froze to death. It is unclear whether it happened during the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence, or during World War I, but the soldier intended to cross the mountain range on a harsh winter day. Thinly dressed, he was soaked through by the snowstorm when he stopped in a tavern where he was given drinks and urged to stay, but he continued on. He was given a bottle of wine for the road – with which in his hand he was later found frozen to death by woodcutters weeks later on a nearby hillside.

At the border of the Carpathians

The S trail crosses the asphalt road and follows a wide forest road, then merges with it; meanwhile the forest mosaic and the landscape’s mood are relatively monotonous. The ridge, marked by indistinct peaks, borders the structural ditch of the Dera stream, forming the southern boundary of the mountain range, while on the other side the Sikárosi basin deepens, a mountain basin. It is a geologically interesting feature of the area, as its dacite rock material originates from the first phase of Visegrád Mountains volcanism, when the volcanic island sea raged rising above the sea surface. The meeting of the wet environment and heat created a steam explosive activity, so mainly fragmental rocks fell during eruptions. We are simultaneously hiking on the edge of the Visegrád Mountains and the Carpathians, as the former volcano belongs to the inner volcanic belt of the Carpathians.

We circle the summit of Kopasz Hill, then leave an intersection at its rejuvenated patch. Soon we cross the small Torina meadow (its name may mean cattle pasture but derived from Slavic dolina also means a depression), then hike a long stretch through a growing forest patch. We also cross a nice, grassy oak forest, otherwise through a relatively unremarkable coppice to reach the Lom-hegyi saddle junction. Among the important "parent roles" in former forest renewals, only one of the old oaks still stands.

Idyllic meadow, terrible murder, defensive plants

We don’t stay long on the S trail because we turn left onto the P trails. Hornbeams mix with oaks, and mossy stones cover the slope, which the path diagonally descends. The atmospheric section joins an abandoned bulldozer road; stone rollers and fallen, rotting branches make steps difficult. From a clearing one can look towards the mountains rising beyond the Sikáros, then soon leave the forest: we arrive at the Sikárosi meadow, a broad meadow framed by forests and mountains. Initially it housed only forest guards, but its good location and water-supplied basin slowly attracted people wishing to farm. However, no village formed, and the former Bükk puszta farm can only be traced by a few mounds on the left. The small settlement became the site of a terrible and somewhat mysterious murder: in 1947, five teenage boys cared for animals when someone slaughtered them. On that day the perpetrator also killed two other people near the Lajos spring; their identity was never revealed (despite contemporary propaganda and rumors attempts). The Bükk puszta previously belonged to the influential (Budapest-based) Dreher family, who according to records tried to keep hikers away from their lands. The inhabitants were perhaps expelled in the 1950s for military exercises, and never returned: the buildings suffered serious damage. Nothing definite is known about exactly what (and when) happened.

Streams flowing through the flower-rich Sikárosi meadow basin come from the surrounding mountains, filling and moistening the basin, and in one corner the Szilágyi Bernát spring rises. This wet environment provided home for numerous horsetail species. Since the plant’s silica content repels pests (e.g., grazing animals), it is suitable for "sikárlás", meaning 'scraping' or 'rubbing' containers – thus some species were popularly known as sikár. Hence may come the name Sikáros. We cross the isolated, peaceful meadow, and as we proceed, the edges are dotted increasingly with groups of pines.

Murder of the last soldier

We enter the forest again and turn left on the K trail of the Blue Trail on the far side of the Bükkös stream. We climb on a wide forest road accompanying the watercourse ditch; and andesite lava rocks that build the Dobogókő plateau appear on the ground. Old, dense beech forests accompany the rock sea; the slope also becomes steeper. After crossing an excavation road, we can take a breath before climbing to the top of Öreg-vágás Hill. According to popular belief the name commemorates another murder: after the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence, an elderly, sad soldier was returning home when a lad killed him here with a scythe and stole his last pay. The killer then got drunk in the tavern and boasted about his deed, but his further fate is unknown.

The second rendezvous

By conquering the summit, we reach the eastern edge of the Dobogókő plateau escarpment; from here, we walk a pleasant forest path on level ground along the ridge. The hiking trail joins the asphalt at the ski slope. It is worth getting tired climbing to the top of the grass pasture: below, the Szőke spring valley curves, and beyond the Predikálószék block the ridges of the Visegrád Mountains roll, in the background the scarred side of Naszály is visible. From a suitable position we can also glimpse the Danube. This ski slope was the first built on Hungarian territory after Trianon - although the 1920s climate was characterized by unusually little snow. The lift machinery house is also a restaurant, the Shingled Guesthouse being one of Imre Makovecz's earliest and most famous buildings, and together with the nearby yurts, it emphasizes the spiritual significance attributed to Dobogókő.

We walk back on the concrete road to the shelter, since the tourist trail was closed due to the burnt-out building of the Hotel Nimród, built in the 1970s and closed since the late 2000s. Circumventing the park and the shelter, we can step out onto the Dobogókő terrace, from where a breathtaking panorama of the Danube Bend unfolds. Below one can observe one of the three meeting points of the Carpathians and the Danube - the mountain range’s northwestern and southeastern ends are washed only here, in the Danube Bend area. Facing us, easily identifiable by its jagged sides, is the Szent Mihály Hill, and behind it the peaks of Börzsöny massif’s Csóványos summit. Nearby, on the lateral ridge of Predikálószék, the barren rock series of Vadálló Rocks breaks through the forest cover, behind it Naszály appears, and in clear weather even the Mátra. In fortunate conditions northwestwards the Selmec Mountains of Upper Hungary and the Tribecs massif can be sighted behind the Hollókő ridge. East of Börzsöny, sometimes the rocky world of the High Tatras also appears on the horizon.

The picturesque view was shaped jointly by the aftermath of volcanism and the arrival of the Danube. The eroded volcanic crater opened like a horseshoe to the north, into which the river meandered, its incision keeping pace with the slow uplift of the area. Thus the mountain range’s streams rushing towards the Danube carved ever deeper valleys creating the densely dissected relief. Saying farewell to the landscape, we can also glance at the memorial of Ödön Téry, a defining figure of organized domestic nature walking at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries (founder and leader of the Hungarian Tourist Association, founder and editor of the Tourists’ Journal, and initiator of numerous tourist paths and shelters). He also played an important role in the construction of the shelter built on Dobogókő.

Our hike ends at the bus stop next to the parking lot.