The Hajag area around Hárskút

Itinerary

• From the bus stop, we start on the S+ trail heading southwest, but after leaving the village, we stay on the paved road and walk a total of about 3 km until the P▲ trail branches off to the right at the parking lot.
• On the P▲ trail, we climb to the Fekete István lookout tower towering on top of Kis-Bükk, then descend back to the mountain side hiking trail junction.
• Following the P+ trail signs, we turn right and, passing the Hajag tourist house, hike to the asphalt road leading to Herend.
• Turning left on the unmarked paved road, we proceed to the junction of the S trail.
• On the S trail path, we turn right and climb to the Középső-Hajag, then follow it all the way to the Augusztintanya Hostel.
• From Augusztintanya, guided by the P signs, we hike to Hárskút.

Detailed tour description

Panorama from Kis-Bükk

From the bus stop, we first have to go through a 3 km long asphalt section on the Márkó–Hárskút country road until the branching of the P▲ trail, where we turn right. We bypass a barrier and begin ascending on a straight clearing gravel road. Shortly after, with a right turn, we enter another pasture and following the signs, after a few minutes we stand at the 486-meter summit level of Kis-Bükk. Naturally, in its natural state, no panorama would be visible from here, but from the upper level of the 20-meter-high Fekete István lookout tower, we can enjoy a first-class 360-degree panoramic view. A beautiful slice of Bakony is visible from here, including the Kőris marked with a locator globe and the Kab Hill with an antenna tower, as well as our later destination, the Hajag group, behind which the volcanic witness hill of Somló, 33 km away, can be seen. We can also study our further route to the Hajag group, which leads through the world of prominent gentle limestone blocks and incised stream valleys in dense forest. From here the dividing line between the Southern and Northern Bakony is well outlined: the wide band of the Veszprém-Devecser trench. On the other side, we can easily identify the summit with lookout tower of Miklós Pál Hill.

On the way to the Aranyos stream

From the excellent hunting and nature-writing named lookout tower, we descend back to the junction and continue right on the P+ trail. In the next kilometers, our route coincides with the forest knowledge study trail, whose stations provide information about the use, management, wildlife of the local groves, and the area's geology as well. The stations also serve as resting places furnished with benches and tables for comfort.

We stomp downhill through a straight pasture clearing separating forest sections, passing through young Turkey oak woods on the side of Kis-Bükk. In the renewal area, we also pass several elevated hides indicating intensive wildlife management. Reaching the saddle before Som Hill, we cross a plank bridge over a nearby spring, then turn right with a 90° bend past an opening wildlife field. We meander on a wide forest road now on a gentle ascent. At this section, we travel through an older forest; we sometimes see old legacy trees, beech appears, and we even cut through a fir forest. Passing the skirt of Borostyán Hill, we switch to descent and enter the narrow valley of Aranyos stream. On our left accompanies an exposed rock formation, and after crossing the ford, we end up at the base of a huge rock monster. The formation known as Prédikálószék consists of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, which actually make up the main mass of Bakony. The limestone and marl materials visible here were deposited by ancient seas during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Fossilized remnants of ammonites and belemnites can still be found here.

Source and tourist house

For a while, we walk along the bed on the shaded stream bank, then begin to rise from the valley with a right turn. We climb on a wind-protected beech ridge, and then a clearcut opens the forest, revealing a neighboring ridge. After two sharp left turns, we arrive at the stone-walled cascade of György spring, which rises at the base of large beeches. There are tables and benches too; an excellent place to take a refreshing rest while filling our water bottles with cool karst water.

A few minutes from the spring, we reach the meadow of the Hajag tourist house standing among slim pines. The almost 100-year-old patinated building previously functioned as a farmhouse and forester’s lodge and, after renovation in 2015, now serves as a hostel welcoming those wishing to rest. It took its name from the nearby mountain group, which is our next tour stop.

We continue on the forest road through beech woods, sometimes passing old legacy trees, ascending the Kis-Fekete forest. We reach a small clearing next to a pine forest, and at the far end, step onto the forestry asphalt road leading to Herend. Here, we leave the previously faithfully followed trail, and starting left, walk on the firm pavement on an unmarked section for a while. After 650 meters of walking on the slightly descending road, we turn right onto the S trail path.

Introduction to the Hajag

This is already the Hajag side. In the next stage, we overcome about 170 meters of ascent to the highest point. The mountain is three-parted (Lower, Middle, Upper Hajag), a large limestone formation that sharply rises from its surroundings and steeply drops off at the edges. Its summit level is plateau-like and sprinkled with sinkholes.

The mountain group appears on old maps as Fekete-hegy; its current name likely refers to the bladder tree, which prefers calcareous soils. This shrub or smaller tree common in Transdanubian mountains is characterized by a two-chambered, inflated capsule fruit containing shiny, light brown, pea-sized seeds similar to hazelnuts. The seeds—called bladder nuts—were believed by folk to bring luck, so they were kept at home. In some regions, they were placed in holes bored into cow horns to prevent witches from stealing the animal's milk, and on the first spring grazing occasion, tied onto the forehead of livestock in a white cloth to protect them from evil. In several places, women carried them to ensure their husbands’ loyalty. In Bakony, the seeds were used as counters during sheep shearing: the shearer put one bladder nut on the farmer’s table after each sheep, thus counting the shorn animals. Beyond this, necklaces and bracelets were also made from the seeds.

First, we step down the Lower Hajag side, winding our way through stalk, beech, and ash trees. The S trail here is a notable route in Bakony: a 51 km hike from Porva-Csesznek railway station to Herend called the Béla Dornyay memorial trail. Its name is connected to the famous teacher and researcher who, among other works, wrote several hiking and guidebooks, including those about Bakony and the Balaton Uplands. These works from the interwar period remain popular today.

The mystery of the highest point

At the saddle before Middle Hajag, we make a left turn into the mountainside, cutting through hospitable thickets where the glades’ openings cross. Soon we notice a building group: the forest school buildings of the Hajagi Véderdő Forest Proprietors’ Association. This community manages the steeply dropping western side of the mountain. As the name suggests, the main role of these forest patches is soil protection to prevent landslides, slips, and rock flows. Every summer, groups of students arrive at the camp, who learn about the forest's life and operation through activities and excursions.

From here, only a final push to the mountaintop remains. As we ascend, the road beneath our feet unexpectedly becomes concreted at one point. The existence of this hard pavement in the middle of the forest is explained by the fact that between 1985 and 1991, a closed and strictly protected military facility operated on the top of Middle Hajag, with the hiking trail passing along its fence. The facility has long been stripped and lies in ruins, and the area is private property. The Soviet army operated here one unit of the Warsaw Pact communication network. The communication system, composed of 26 elements across multiple countries, was capable of transmitting information through the chain to the entire territory of the military alliance, representing the then state-of-the-art technology. During the initial construction, significant earthworks took place on the summit, and the majority of the base was built underground, reinforced with lots of concrete to be protected against nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks. Hungary built and operated four such stations until the military alliance dissolved. Afterward, the site was evacuated, and since then its condition has gradually deteriorated. Until 2019, the large antenna and transmission towers which could be seen from the hiking trail still stood, but all of them have since been dismantled.

After the former base, under huge, venerably old beeches and lime trees, we arrive next to a concrete truncated pyramid marking the 646-meter main peak of the Hajag mountains. Considered the third highest point of Bakony, Middle Hajag is absolutely the dominant point of the area—it is no coincidence that they installed the military communication station here, and it is also clear why today radio amateurs exploit the excellent communication conditions. Just below the summit, in a small grove, the building of the Bakony Radio Club and the connected antenna towers invite a stop.

Memories of airplanes in the forest

Near the club building, we find a fenced-off waterworks station and a media telecommunications tower. Leaving the top along the line of a straight firebreak clearing, we descend gently toward the saddle between Rend-kő, Upper Hajag, and Middle Hajag. Initially traveling through ash trees, then marveling through a beautiful beech column hall, our S trail veers right from the clearing, but if we walk a bit further, we can see a concrete monument under the trees erected as a memorial to the tragic plane crash in 1973. Three Soviet pilots lost their lives when three MiG-21 fighter jets collided with Hajag during a military exercise.

On the wide plateau of Rend-kő, we walk through a heavily thinned beech forest, alternating between younger and older trees, sometimes on sunlit clearings. Due to logging, the landscape opens northward, and we gain a view of the Kőris Hill massif. Crossing a wide gravel road at a fenced renewal, a 300-meter detour to the right leads to another pilot memorial, and a broader perspective of Bakony’s main peak surroundings where we can also spot the houses of Bakonybél. This memorial stone was erected for a Hungarian pilot who crashed his fighter jet during training in 1968.

Messengers of the old Bakony farmhouse system

We descend through a briar-studded young forest to the well-kept orchard next to Augusztintanya. The former mountain farmhouse building now operates as an association hostel, with the hiking movement’s stamp and the memorial post of deceased nature walkers located in the courtyard.

From the house corner, we switch to the P trail, which will guide our way for the rest of the hike. After a few minutes’ walk, we take a sharp left turn and continue on a new clearing, passing by the Ráktanya building group, currently functioning as forest accommodation and camp site. Both the previously seen Augusztintanya and Ráktanya were parts of the once extensive Bakony farmhouse system. On both sides of the Veszprém–Devecser trench, mountain farms were spread by the hundreds until the mid-20th century, of which today only a small fraction remains. The flourishing outskirts of that time were primarily engaged in animal husbandry and grazing, alongside growing feed, vegetables, and fruit trees, supplemented in some places with beekeeping. In the inner parts of the mountain, the wood coal and lime kiln pits glowed. After World War II nationalization and later the establishment of the cooperative system, the farmhouses were depopulated and mostly destroyed. Very few survived, often serving different functions today, though occasionally farmers reclaim them, reviving centuries-old traditions again. Uniquely, an asteroid was named after Ráktanya—the celestial body orbiting between Mars and Jupiter was discovered from the farm garden during an astronomy camp.

Descending to Hárskút

Passing the Vámostanya and Némettanya buildings by the edge of a mowing meadow, the surrounding landscape unfolds behind us with the forested prominence of Nagy-Som Hill in view, and ahead, we see the Papod summit. We descend into the Öreg-séd ditch and cross a last forest patch. From here to the edge of Hárskút, we proceed through open terrain amid pastures, meadows, and arable lands descending into the Hárskút basin. On the left is Égett Hill, above the village rises the local Kőris Hill, and on the right, on cultivated land, two tree groups hide water-filled sinkhole caves. We pass under a power line and then walk on the asphalt road arriving from Réhpuszta and the still-standing buildings of Kleintanya.

We arrive at the highest settlement of Bakony on the long and straight Rózsafa Street. Hárskút has existed only since 1956, when the previously separate Gyertyánkút and Hárság homesteads were merged administratively under the new name. Swabians settled in the two outskirts at the end of the 18th century, originally engaged in producing wood tar, lime, and charcoal, and working with wood. Most were deported after World War II, but even today more than 10% of the community's inhabitants identify as German. Upon reaching the country road leading to Márkó, which is also Hárskút's main street, the bus stop is immediately found.