Hike to the Papod lookout point

Itinerary:

• We follow the P trail across the Borzás-hegy massif up to Papod, then back on the same route.

Description:

Hárskút and Borzás-hegy

We start from one of the bus stops in Hárskút, the highest village in Transdanubia and the Bakony (known in German as Lindenbrunn). The area was repopulated in the 18th century with German and Slovak settlers after the Turkish invasions and depopulation. The German-speaking residents of Bakony came from western Bavaria and overpopulated parts of the Rhine region; their characteristically sounding names can still be found in the village cemetery.

The saddle above the village is high by Bakony standards, giving a view of the surrounding landscape and the adjacent Old Bakony. This section, rising with island-like ridges towards the forested hills, belongs geologically to the mountain range's extensive thick Triassic dolomite body; tectonic forces that lifted the range are presumed to have been more effective here.

The P trail leads up the rounded ridge of Borzás-hegy through clearings. Unfortunately, this bleak sight is typical across the range, which after major historical clearings has once again entered a period where the forest is viewed as raw material. Large tracts of Bakony’s great forests are disappearing, turning to ash in the Ajka power plant. The only advantage of logging is that the view at the mountain summit is hardly blocked by regrowth. Descending on the far side, however, leads into oak forests typical of the southern part of the range.

Along the ridge

We continue along the ridge which leads to a saddle. Occasionally, a few beech trees appear, which, characteristic of Bakony’s subatlantic climate, establish even at lower elevations here. Along the route, we can see some ancient, gnarled beeches and oaks of matuzalem size, which survived earlier deforestations as legacy trees or seed trees.

In past centuries, the area’s forests were regularly harvested for glass production and the production of potash used in the textile industry. Potassium carbonate was extracted from pure wood ash through leaching the ashes, boiling, evaporation of the lye, and drying the pure potassium carbonate. The nearby glassworks in Ajka was a major consumer of this product, which was one of Hungary's most important exports in the 18th century, as West Europe no longer had large, contiguous forests to supply the wood needed.

The mixed forests around here mainly consist of oaks, beeches, hornbeams, and ashes, but planted black pines are encountered several times along our route. Although birches and pines first settled the area after the Ice Age tundra climate, natural occurrences of these species have become rare in Hungary. On the cooler beech-covered rocky slopes, a splendid rarity blooms in mid-spring: the fancy or bear’s ear primrose. This small yellow-flowered perennial is a true curiosity around Papod, found exclusively in Hungary in the Vértes, Bakony, and Keszthely Hills. It is an Ice Age relic species, strictly protected.

Up to Papod

Our path continues through planted black pine forest on the mountain top, becoming somewhat steeper on a forestry road in the final section. At a fork, turning left we climb the rocky surface towards the summit. The gently sloping summit of Papod is greeted by a clearing surrounded by shrubby forest, dominated by nearly 20-meter-high wooden observation tower standing on the peak.

Besides some peaks in the High Bakony over 650 meters, Papod is the highest mountain in the Bakony and the closest one to Veszprém. The massif towering over the city is among the most popular tourist destinations in the area. From the top of the structure, the county seat Veszprém is clearly visible. Behind it, a small slice of Lake Balaton shines, and on clear days, the pillars of the Köröshegy valley bridge on the opposite side can also be seen. Around us is the rolling, settlement-scarred forest of Bakony. The houses and meadows of Hárskút and Lókút are distinctive elements of the view, while behind the northern hills, the twin towers of the Zirc abbey church can be spotted among forested, flat ridges. What really makes the view interesting, however, is that the basalt volcanoes of the Balaton Uplands and the Little Hungarian Plain also appear on the horizon. To the left of Kab-hegy’s characteristic shield shape and its towering antenna is the Szent György Hill, Csobánc, and Badacsony, while the Somló plateau peeks out from behind Bakony’s forests beyond Hárskút.

We can continue our hike towards Eplény on the P trail, which winds nearly 9 kilometers further through forested areas, or return back on the familiar route towards Hárskút. This is the shortest and most practical solution.