Oak Path - blue tour (medium)

Itinerary

• Follow the blue Oak Path signs throughout the route!

Detailed description of the route

We start from the Alsóerdei Sports and Leisure Center, next to the information board introducing the three Oak Paths. On the blue route of the thematic trails that network the forest near the city, we cover over 8 kilometers from the beginning of the Azáleás Valley, looping back near Bazita, and returning through the forests below the TV tower. Our journey follows blue-background signs marked Blue Tour, starting from Azáleás Street and turning towards the TV tower at the end, entering the dense, mixed forest. The valley's beginning is covered by pine forest, typical for the entire Azáleás Valley, mixed with oak, beech, maple, and birch trees. This is a truly delightful, fresh spot above the city's forests, and the thick leaf litter-covered ground yields abundant mushrooms in rainy weather.

At the edge of the first forest clearing, a board mounted on a stone block announces the gem of Zala County, the Azáleás Valley, where it feels like stepping into a high mountain cirque: ferns flourish among pine groves, and the long winding, narrow valley floor's emerald ribbon is framed by dark green pine walls on steep slopes. The valley widens somewhat in the middle section, where we find a resting place, rain shelter, benches and tables, and a grill, a genuine picnic spot deep in the mountain idyll. We find the most azaleas in the middle section, though if we do not come during the spring flowering, the bushes blend into the lush green vegetation layer among other plants. From late April to mid-May, however, a colorful wedding unfolds beneath the trees: the yellow-flowered Caucasian azalea species begins to bloom, filling the valley with its penetrating scent for weeks. Later, white, pink, and red flowers dominate, but unfortunately their scent is no longer distinctive.

In the valley, we also conquer most of the ascent: the increasingly steep, flat valley bottom narrows into a shallow ditch in the upper section and its slope reaches its maximum. We climb above the 250-meter contour in a pine-beech forest, which we barely surpass afterward. We cross the gravel road leading to the TV tower at the valley head, then with a sharp left turn exit the dense, dark pine-mixed beech forest. From here on, oak is the dominant tree species along our route. On the hilltop, mostly drought-tolerant sessile oak woods are found, but in some forest fragments, the non-native red oak prevails. This species was introduced from North America for its faster growth and straight trunk, but its dense litter cover allows far fewer herbaceous plants to survive, thus its presence is particularly harmful to native forest communities.

The gently undulating hill level has forests of varying composition and age covering the view, but where clear-cutting is avoided, there is a fine view of houses lining the opposite hilltop, fruit and vineyards, as well as ribbons of meadows. Bazita is one of Zalaegerszeg's outer districts, and its own church shows that it is not only the city's population's gardens dotted with cellars and wine presses and weekend houses that lie side by side, but a populated settlement can be seen.

At the third kilometer, near Búslakpuszta, we reach a more open terrain, and the road cuts through a narrow meadow where ravens are almost always heard loudly cawing. This is because next to us, behind a fence, is the county seat's landfill where the scavenging, recycling population is the protected raven.

We turn right into the oak forest bordering the meadow, and cross gentle waves to the last peak above 250 meters. Beyond it, two green-painted pipe fittings embedded in a concrete shaft greet us, absurdly standing abandoned in the middle of nowhere. These are abandoned oil wells that tapped Zala's “black gold,” the underground hydrocarbon fields. The oil discovered near Zalaegerszeg in the early 1950s suddenly gave a great impetus to the previously rural county seat’s industrialization. Economically, the city's oil refinery and asphalt factory remain significant today.

Descending from the hilltop, we reach a wider terrain, passing through willow groves interspersed with reeds and wet meadows at the source area of the Pálosfa stream. Here we turn back towards Zalaegerszeg and along the creek reach the lowest point of our route, marking a definite turning point. From here, wooded meadows, forest-edge hayfields, and arable lands dominate the landscape framed by the hilltop with houses and gardens of Bazita. The next kilometers are characterized by this gentle, view-rich landscape. In spring, fruit trees blooming on the hillside lend the area a distinctive atmosphere typical of Göcsej, while in autumn the colorful canopy of orchards makes the gardens arrayed above us unique. Our route, winding on a country road along the border of forest and field, starts a definite climb, and this is the last ascent to the top of the hills, returning to the ridge above the Azáleás Valley.

Although we approach Zalaegerszeg's symbol, the TV tower visible from much of the city, we turn off to a steep hillside barely two hundred meters away from it. If you want a really comprehensive view of the surrounding hills and to scan the buildings of Zalaegerszeg from bird’s-eye view, it is worth taking this small detour that allows you to look around the area from over 50 meters high. Especially in good weather, the Alps mountain ranges and the higher mountain areas of Croatia are also visible on the horizon.

On the last kilometer, we face a surprising steepness, but fortunately have to overcome it downhill - if the path is muddy and slippery, it may be worth returning to the starting point on the red tour route. The lively descent ends quickly, as we are in the Zala Hills, where a 100-meter elevation difference is already considered significant.

Arriving at the edge of the Azáleás Valley, the steepness eases, and we reach Azáleás Street leading to our starting point. Here once stood the Mary-image tree, the old oak with a trunk diameter of 160 cm, known by locals as the thousand-year-old tree. A picture of Mary hung on it, and benches stood around it, as seen on the information board, but the tree itself no longer exists. According to descriptions, the local garrison eliminated a raiding Turkish troop here near the former tree, suggesting that the specimen was indeed of Methuselah age. Its name is now preserved by the Képes-nyiladék (Picture clearing) leading from the parking area to the TV tower.

Returning to our starting point, crossing Alsóerdei Street, we can eat, drink, and rest at the Erdőgyöngye restaurant. If we want to spend more active time, the Alsóerdei Sports and Adventure Park offers an adventurous ending option (in the adventure park or forest playground).