Memorial hike around Csákány-kő

Itinerary:

• From the memorial park, we follow the P+ marking to reach the Várbükk Forestry House.
• From the forestry house, we continue on the P marking towards the Domoszlói Gate.
• At the Domoszlói Gate, we join the ridge path on the K marking.
• Between the Great and Little Zúgó Mountains, we leave the ridge on the K● marking to the Szegediek's well.
• On the dozer road below the spring, we join the K+ marking which descends back to the National Memorial Park.
• ???We cover the last meters next to the memorial park on the K▲ marking.???

Detailed information about the hike:

At the Recski labor camp

We start from the National Memorial Park parking lot at the former entrance of the Recski Labor Camp following the P+ marking. During the summer season, the exhibition about the camp's history based on prisoners' stories is open in the building opposite the entrance, which was formerly an officer's barrack converted from the forestry house. This requires a slight detour; the path leads left from the entrance past small ponds dug by the prisoners. By now, these ponds are home to lush aquatic life under the shade of tall poplars. The most worn path leads under the ponds to the reconstructed penal barracks – it is worth visiting as it is just a few minutes detour.

The P+ marking leaves the former camp area above the barracks through dense forest. After visiting the exhibition and gaining insight into the life in the penal camp, leaving this difficult place almost feels like liberation. The eight prisoners who managed the only successful escape fled this way, and one of them eventually succeeded in fleeing westward. We follow dense forest below Csákány-kő, ending at a larger clearing. From the clearing, the bite-shaped Kékes massif dominates the landscape. The marking descends slightly onto the Várbükk dozer road winding towards the Várbükk Forestry House.

In the Várbükk Forests

At the second branch of the dozer road, our path is crossed by the P marking coming from Parádfürdő, which we follow towards the Mátra ridge. The road curves back to the impressive forestry house. Crossing the atmospheric meadow behind the house, we turn into the groved forest on the opposite side. After a short climb, we reach the road leading to Domoszlói Gate, followed by the marking for a section. At Vár-well, where the high voltage line crosses the forestry road, the P marking branches off onto the path climbing towards the saddle.

At the base of the extremely steep northern side of Oroszlánvár, zigzagging between dark beech forest and the clearing under the overhead cables, we climb to Domoszlói Gate. The natural passage was carved by a stream in the presumed caldera of the Great Szár Mountain, which locals used as a crossing between the two sides of Mátra. We cross the road followed lower here again at the saddle, and can catch our breath at a simple resting place after the tiring ascent.

On the Mátra ridge

After a deserved rest, we follow the gently undulating ridge along the K marking, which indicates the trail of the National Blue Trail. For a short section, we also get a taste of the atmosphere of hiking across the country. In sparse woods dotted with dogwoods, we have limited views to Kékes and the High Mátra mountains. This section crosses one of the most deserted parts of Mátra, where the trail meanders far from inhabited settlements. The nearest villages lie deep below after several kilometers of dense forest stacking up in the Parád-Tarna valley and on the other side at the edge of the Great Plain.

With a long ascent on the ridge, overcoming over 100 meters in elevation, we reach the elongated peak of Jagus where we get some views to Csákány-kő. The sharp ridge serves not only as a water divide but also divides vegetation. Oak trees inhabit the sunlit southern slopes, while the steep, colder northern beech forests have been heavily reduced by forestry management. Among groups of standing tree trunks and emerging new generation, we look into the northern valleys of Mátra. Below us, the yellowish andesite mine of Csákány-kő, called "Chamois" by prisoners because of its former shape, now spreads its stones as building and road materials across the country. Nowadays much deeper levels are mined beyond the crater visible here.

On one of the slopes of the undulating ridge, a forestry house was built in a fenced small clearing, but its bench and covered porch are unfortunately closed to tourists. Above the house, the 637 meters peak of the Great Zúgó Mountain is the highest point of our route. In the saddle on the far side, we reach the branch of the K● marking.

Descent back to the memorial park

We leave the ridge in dense beech forest on a steep path along the K● marking that descends into a small valley to the spring called Szegediek's well. The water source flowing in a steep depression under old beech trees was occupied by Szeged tourists in the mid-20th century; since then it flows surrounded by dense, lush vegetation. At the forest rest area below the spring, we can catch our breath as from here on we leave the steep ridge section and descend further over gentler terrain.

Below the spring, we enter the dozer road and continue following the K+ marking. At the bend, the marking branches off onto a path along the edge of the clearing. We descend east of the Csákány-kő block in the Győrke stream valley back to the foot of the mountain. The last short section cuts through the hillside where dense forest and clearing meet at the junction of the mining asphalt road, returning to the entrance of the memorial park.

 ???We cover the last meters next to the memorial park on the K▲ marking.???