On the Nagy-Mána ridge trail

Itinerary

• From the Diósjenő train station through Csóványos to the Magosfa shoulder we follow the Z trail.
• At the Magosfa shoulder we turn right on the P trail and descend to Kiralyhaza.
• From Kiralyhaza we follow the paved road towards Diósjenő on the S◼ trail to reach the Jenői-závoz.
• From Jenői-závoz we return to Diósjenő on the S trail.

Detailed description of the hike

Sweaty start

We start our hike at the now completely run-down and neglected Diósjenő train station – or if we want to "skip" the 2 km long characterless section crossing the village, at the Arany János út bus stop. Here the Z trails leave the main street and turn left onto Arany János street. Nicely renovated houses still preserve the former atmosphere of the settlement here and there. We reach the Diósjenő–Kemence paved road, walk a few steps on it, then the trail branches left into an oak forest with grassy floor. We begin ascending, crossing a dozer road leading into the valley of Szén Creek, beyond which a national park sign indicates that we have entered the protected area.

The Z trail soon bends over a deep ditch, and we continue ascending along its edge. Where the valley flattens, the PX trail merges in from there, soon after which it leaves our path to climb further in a deep path – we cut the bend ascending the slope which has been made more passable with stairs up to the Csehvár saddle, from where the ZL trail branches off towards the ruins. With a moderate climb we reach the Magas-hegy saddle, then, in front of a row of pines, we leave the PX trail heading left on the cart track to the Verebes meadow and start descending. Along the way, the educational signs of the Diósjenő nature trail provide information about the area’s past, present, forestry, and nature conservation. We reach the beautiful Gál meadow filling the valley of Kemence Creek, cross a stream bed on a boardwalk, cut across a forestry road running through the meadow, then cross over Kemence Creek again on a wooden bridge. Looking left between the Gál meadow and the creek, the former embankment of the Diósjenő narrow-gauge railway is still visible, which ran from the Musli spring all the way to the Nyír meadow.

Lords of Börzsöny

After crossing the creek, we start a restrained but continuous ascent all the way to Csóványos. For the most part, we walk in dense beech forests, and at one point can admire an old redwood. The trail is suddenly replaced by a forestry road called “Food Carrier Road.” The forest owner of Diósjenő before World War II, Mrs. Sándorné Sváb, spent summers in the Börzsöny, at the Nyír-réti hunting lodge, and fresh supplies were carried up this road from the village. The cart road bends right and crosses over a mountain ridge, then heads straight to the Hárombarát saddle. The foundations of the former Hárombarát hunting lodge can still be found, named after the friendship of the former local owners: Kálmán Groote, Ernő Falkenhausen, and Ede Almássy.

The K◼ trail arriving from Dobogó-bérc joins, then soon after the Z trail leaves the route turning left toward Nyír-rét. On our right are dense, hall-like beech forests interspersed with planted pine patches which conceal the already quite steep walls of the north-facing ravine valleys. The climate is cooler, the forest quieter and more motionless. The Pogány-Rózsás Forest Reserve, one of the country’s largest, lies northeast of Csóványos, consisting of narrow ridges and gorge-like valleys along which we walk. To our left, an information board draws attention to the scant remains of the former Nyír-réti hunting lodge. The building, erected at the end of the 19th century, was often visited by the owners of the Diósjenő estate who liked to spend time hunting here. After the communist takeover, the state-owned lodge burned down in the 1950s, and only the foundations remain today.

We cross the grass of the Lower-Hinta Meadow on the side ridge of Varsa Peak. Beyond the edge of the spacious, slanted meadow, the Danube Bend appears with Naszály. We leave the clearing and the cart road, the hiking trail follows the forestry dirt road among trees. We tackle the slope of Csóványos; at Varsa Peak the P▲ trail joins, then along the grove-lined Nyír-réti glade we reach the lookout at the summit via a sometimes steep and truly sweaty trail.

In high mountain atmosphere

Of course, the splendid panorama of Csóványos is always worth the effort, and it makes a perfect resting place before the next section of the hike. We admire from above the forest landscape of High Börzsöny and the mountainous area of the Danube Bend before we descend northwest on the mixed beech P trail. Along the ridgeline above 900 meters often we hear the crackling of branches and the rustling of the wind as it blows up from the valleys over Börzsöny’s highest region. The forest is quite motionless here and we rarely meet people – the Nagy-Hideg-hegy draws tourists away from the Magosfa ridge, although here we can move in truly wild, natural forests. Shortly after the summit, the P● trail branches off right to the Upper-Red Rose spring, which is not recommended to visit due to its unreliable water supply. Evidence of Börzsöny’s dense network of hiking trails is also that at the Három-hányás saddle we reach another junction (K▲, P▲ left), then soon after another junction, we leave the Z trail heading to Magosfa.

Here on the wide "shoulder" of Magosfa we walk level for a while, then suddenly start descending towards the northern ridges. As we go down, beeches give way to ashes. In the quiet, mysterious forest, a sad sight is the many dead trees around us – reminders of the December 2014 ice damage. Fortunately, most have since been removed from the trail so our path continues relatively unobstructed to Sasfészek-bérc, although sometimes we do have to bypass fallen trunks. The P trail turns right, opposite the P◼ branches off to bypass two valley heads on the Rakottyás-bérc ridge parallel to our route, arriving at Királyháza.

After a small climb, we reach the long, narrow, trench-like ridge of Sasfészek-bérc. The path slopes comfortably towards its end then leads us down more steeply. Sparse trees on both sides allow continuous views through their crowns. Soon we arrive above a thicket clearing, from where westwards we can see the low, flat lands of Slovakia. Passing through the clearing is less pleasant as thorny blackberry branches hang over the path. On late summer or early autumn hikes, we can find comfort in the bushes’ abundant fresh fruits.

Nagy-Mána panorama

Opposite us is the barren, rocky peak of Nagy-Mána. We descend to the saddle then ascend on a comfortable rocky path winding to the 707 m high summit, from which one of the most beautiful panoramas of our country unfolds. The ridge sharply drops eastwards, its sides cut by harsh andesite rock formations, under which yawns the deep, forested gorge of Rózsás Creek. Not so long ago, a narrow-gauge railway operated in this deep, untouched valley, transporting harvested wood – its remains are still visible today. Since then, silence reigns in the hollow, only the sound of the brook reaches us. Its abandonment is visible even to the naked eye: groups of fallen trees lie toppled along and below, the gorge having become practically impassable forest wilderness since the ice damage. Behind the valley head rises Csóványos, beside it Magosfa, opposite Pogányvár, and from behind it the Jelesfa ridge. In clear weather we can spot the Mátra mountain range in the distance behind the parallel ridges. Nagy-Mána is a truly hidden spot in the mountains, its atmosphere and charm owed not only to its beauty but also to its tranquility and the silence surrounding the summit.

We wave-ride over the rocky grass cones of Nagy-Mána. At the end of the ridge, on a huge dead sessile oak, the trail: left a steep, stony slope leads to an old ash-beech forest. The thick trunks of the trees line up like the pillars of a hall, between them the path gently slopes. As we continue descending, younger forest patches surround us, and in gaps of smaller clearings the trail splits blackberry bushes again. We pass the memorial of Dr. Péter Tóth, a young nature photographer who died here. The beautifully carved wooden statue bears a Latin inscription that means: "I will sing to the Lord forever".

The parallel ridges – Rakottyás on the left, Dobogó-bérc on the right – tighten their grip around the Nagy-Mána ridge, shortly after which it merges into the Rakottyás valley. This section of the hiking trail climbs steeply, with loose stones, but upon reaching the creek it changes to a comfortable cart track. From the right, coming from the Rózsás Creek valley, a well-recognizable former narrow-gauge embankment sees the P▲ joining the P trail. The hiking trail seemingly unjustifiably leaves the comfortable forestry road used by machines and, slightly rising from the hollow, turns onto a beaten track and soon returns – sparing two creek crossings. The overgrown trail is recommended only after rainfall; otherwise, we stay on the comfortable cart track throughout.

About 300 m later, the P● trail branches off left towards the Tűzköves spring. On the wide, flat bank of the creek there is a shady resting place with benches and a fire pit. The spring itself is quite unusual because water breaks out at the bottom of an undermined cliff along a crack, and practically we have to stand on rocks emerging from the swift current to reach it.

Kiralyhaza and the Kemence valley

The P trail merges with more and more hiking trails: first arriving from the left on a charming boardwalk are Z+ and P◼, then from the right, a steep ridge brings the already familiar K◼ from Hárombarát saddle. Among a multitude of signs, we arrive at Királyháza, the "gateway" of Northern Börzsöny, accessible only on foot or by car with special permission. Our next section involves monotonous asphalt walking: this is the price of the Nagy-Mána hike. We follow the S◼ trails on the paved road connecting Kemence and Diósjenő for about 4.5 kilometers – the soul-killing monotony is broken roughly halfway by the tasteful spring basin of Király-kút –, then finally we leave the asphalt, cutting the road’s switchbacks to arrive at Jenői-závoz, the saddle point of the mountain's eastern ridge, offering a beautiful view of the Nógrád basin. Turning to the S trail we proceed down through the houses of Diósjenő. The bus stop is about 2.5 km away, the train station after about 4 km.