Tour in the enchanted forest of Kámor

Itinerary:

• On the S trail from Diósjenő we reach Kámor through the Jenői-Závoz and behind it to the Csánki Garden.
• On the K◼ trail we continue across the ridge of Kőember to Pénzásás.
• From the Pénzásás junction we descend back to Diósjenő on the K trail.

Detailed description of the tour:

In the attraction area of Diósjenő

We start our tour from the center of Diósjenő, at the Szabadság Street bus stop, from the market square in front of the shop, following the S trail. Even the Romans visited this area: Marcus Aurelius' troops fought the barbarian hordes threatening Pannonia at the village's eastern border, delivering a decisive blow in AD 173. Many nations inhabited this land. Before the Hungarian conquest, Celts, Germans and northern Slavs populated the area. After the devastation of the Tatar invasion and Turkish occupation, German and Slovak settlers were involved in the revival of the area, so the region was always characterized by a mixed population, rich culture and folk traditions.

We walk among the colorful houses standing closely together in Diósjenő, along Szabadság by the creek and the winding Petőfi Sándor street. We also pass the Diósjenő camping site, which can be a good base for a longer stay. After the waterworks and forestry buildings, the S trail leads us into the gently sloping oak forest at the foothills. The sunny mixed-age forest is an excellent mushroom growing area; in summer, locals and mushroom lovers from nearby towns populate the hillside collecting typical edible species of the oakwoods, such as porcini, saffron milkcap and parasol mushrooms.

The wide forest road becomes gradually steeper as we approach the edge of the volcanoes, which we finally reach on a path at the Závoz saddle. Here was built the paved road splitting the Börzsöny in two, connecting Diósjenő with Kemence, providing a great opportunity for rapid access to the interior areas of the mountain range. After the World War, trucks were able to enter the depths of Börzsöny via forestry exploration roads, making the Závoz saddle one of the gates for logging. It replaced the railway network covering the inner areas at the beginning of the 20th century, which extended from the valley bend under the saddle up to the foot of Csóványos in the Kemence creek valley. Nowadays, besides logging, the road crossing the Závoz saddle is increasingly used by cyclists riding through the mountain and tourists heading to Királyháza. At the upper end of the clearing, a bench and table offer rest opportunities to hikers.

We continue our way on the gravel forestry road along the S trail, which bypasses the Kő-szirt peak at 575 meters elevation. On the opposite side of the hill, by the road, we come across a reliable water spring, after which we reach the Kun-rét clearing dotted with fruit trees. In the atmospheric mountain meadow the village's winter hay supply was harvested, creating a valuable habitat in the valley head wedged among volcanic cones. Although the meadow is still mowed nowadays, it mainly serves the welfare of the local game population. Hunting stands on the outskirts of the area prove that hunters keep this game population under control. The hiking trail runs barely noticeable through the middle of the meadow along the line of marked fruit trees. At the upper end, turning left, we climb on the side of Király Hill, then after passing over the hill and through clearings we arrive in the saddle beneath the massif of Kámor.

The ancient world of Kámor

Here too, a charming small hay meadow occupies the slope between the volcanic cones, which the hiking trail touches only on its edge. At the edge of the steep eastern drop of the mountain, we start a slow ascent to the highest point of our hike, the 662-meter summit of Kámor. In the knobbly oak forest, it feels like time travel as we get closer to the center of the Kámor massif, towards the mystique of legends. At the top of the steepest section, the panorama unfolds eastward among the foliage towards the wildly undulating landscape of Nógrád. Our sense of height is enhanced by the rocky hillside below us dropping dizzyingly steeply towards the foothill oak forests. On the ice age's frozen and crumbly rock surface, only minimal vegetation can cling.

Above the natural fortification, we reach a gentler summit block, where the dense, dark forest hides the Kámor castle, now existing only in folk tales. Its traces are barely visible; a eroded ditch encircles the narrowly defined summit on the western side of the mountain. Interestingly, right on the summit is a seemingly bottomless, narrow cavity, the Kámor rock fissure, whose narrowing bottom many tried to reach in search of the former castle’s treasure. Folk tradition says that the former bandit lord of the fortress hid accumulated wealth in an iron pot at the foot of the castle when he was driven away from his headquarters. The old woman growing old in the surrounding forests, the Kámor witch, sought these treasures in vain throughout her life, although legends grew about gradually enriching families who found the pot full of gold. The most creative story says the vessel hides in a cavity under a hazel bush growing on the side of the mountain, which opens only during Palm Sunday mass and closes after it ends. So anyone lingering long in treasure hunting and not leaving the cavity before the mass ends will be trapped as the vault closes overhead. The cavity opening at the top of Kámor can indeed be captivating and easy to get stuck in. Some locals say there is a passage from here towards Drégely and Nógrád as well.

Many other cavities can also be found at the edge of the eastern drop of the mountain. The loose, hollowing softer rock is capped by harder, fused tuff layers creating strange shapes, and also depressions remain which formed after decayed tree trunks embedded in the ash. The mountain formed 16 million years ago when volcanic ash engulfed the forested slopes, burying the trees, so the later shattered hillsides preserve the imprints of former trunks on the eastern rim. The largest such cavity, the Kámor fox hole, is 11 meters long. Next to it is the Hugo villa, an artificially carved square tuff room whose ceiling is the boundary between the formerly eroded softer and the harder, remaining upper layer. Besides being a great shelter, the Hugo villa provides an excellent view of the Nógrád hills, the Mátra mountains, the Karancs-Medves region and the upland mountains.

According to legend, Sisa Pista, a famous outlaw in the area, also used to dwell here and in the nearby Csepegő-kő cave. Among the people of Diósjenő, Pista was a respected man as he never harmed the poor, and many stories relate how he helped travelers and the destitute. The area encompassing the Hugo villa is now under strict protection; the excellent hiding cavity is not easy to find.

Descending from the summit of Kámor, we cross a barely noticeable ditch remnant and descend in a dense forest on the northern side of the mountain. Not far, below the western escarpment, is the Csipkés spring, next to the Grotte cross, commemorating the death of Baron Grotte who owned these forests. Emperor William I's guard officer was found dead nearby during a hunt in 1906; the people say the baron's head hunter killed him out of jealousy.

The dense forest hid other oddities. At the beginning of the 20th century, the local cantor teacher recorded that the village used to call an old woman living in the Kámor forest a witch. The accusations against the old lady were personally investigated by the village leaders who searched for the hermit living in a small hut. True to her habit, the woman locked herself inside as soon as she saw strangers. Since they could not summon the so-called witch, they broke the door down but found no soul inside. To close the case, they set fire to the hut. Examining the burnt ruins, they found the opening of a passage under the house. Whether the woman escaped through it or burned inside remains unknown, but it’s certain she was never seen again.

Winding paths across Kőember

Exiting the old Kámor forest, we walk along the opposite hillside among young trees next to a marshy, swampy area. We reach the junction of forestry roads by the Békás pond, where we switch to the K◼ trail, which we follow to the Pénzásási saddle. A practical tip: on the K◼ trail heading back towards the Kemence creek, just a few hundred meters after the bend of the dozer road in the valley bottom, we find the permanent flowing Faragott spring.

From the junction, our route leads north across the ridge of Kőember. An interesting memory is preserved on the western spur of the hill, as a flying field is marked on the map on the flat top of Csurgó-fejezet. The hill ridge, now overgrown densely with scrub, was in the post-Trianon era the landing strip of Count József Wenckheim, owner of the area, so that he could quickly reach his hunting castle from his estate in Békés by private plane. According to local gossip, if he flew over the nearby Nyíri castle, as a gallant gentleman he always dropped a bouquet of roses for the neighbor widow.

Descending the other side of Kőember, turning left at the valley head, we see the Wenckheim hunting castle hidden in the dense forest. The building currently functions under the care of Ipoly Erdő Zrt. If we are prone to nostalgia and aristocratic splendor, we can stay in the castle, accessible by gravel road from Nagyoroszi. The K◼ trail also joins this road as we circle around the northern ridge of Kőember, reaching the Pénzásási saddle shortly after.

The meadow serving as a hub of forestry roads offers several directions to continue our hike, but we consider the comfortable descent back to Diósjenő on the obvious K trail as basic. This section uses the path leading from Drégely castle to Nógrád castle, called the 'Turkish Woman's Path' by common folk, probably as a strange memento of communication between forts in Turkish hands during the occupation.

The Kámor above us was also used by the locals beneath it to forecast weather based on the howling of winds passing over the mountain. An interesting belief survived, according to which the garabonciás student, a sorcerer-like monk who raises a large snake into a dragon over seven years and then flies over the region on its back, wanders in the surrounding forests. Where the garabonciás student appears with his dragon, heavy clouds cover his coming, often accompanied by hail and tornado. Throughout the 2010s, several serious windfalls and hail damage hit the local forests. How much the garabonciás students were involved is unknown, but it is certain that the steep cone-shaped volcanoes and steep cliffs create unique wind patterns in Börzsöny. If we see the black clouds signaling the garabonciás student, we can find shelter in a nearby building.

A few hundred meters below the saddle, we arrive at the Pénzásási Forest Tourist House along the K trail, renovated by the managing Ipoly Erdő Zrt. at the end of the 2010s, so we can even spend the night in the modern, spacious hostel meeting all needs. Even if we don’t sleep here, it’s definitely worth resting and dining on the lawn in front of the house, where benches and tables offer a comfortable rest area.

The area and the house name may already be familiar from the legend of Kámor’s treasure – but locals say they hid another fortune in the vicinity. According to the story, when Sisa Pista learned that three counties were hunting him, he buried his long-accumulated loot by an old oak tree nearby. After being captured and serving his 21 years in various jails in the Mátra foothills and the Felvidék, the outlaw returned to seek his stolen goods. The woods concealing the treasure were cut down in the meantime, so the hidden fortune was never found. The truthfulness of the story is doubtful, but after his release, Sisa Pista worked as a forest ranger in the Northern Börzsöny and likely locals eagerly hunted for the legendary treasures around Kámor and Drégely castle.

From the tourist house, our path continues on a trail leading through an oak-hornbeam forest. We descend gently near the feet of the volcanoes, circumventing water erosion gullies cutting the hillside. The extensive forests are to be preserved and naturally renewed for future generations in the framework of the "Life For Oak Forests" nature protection program. Throughout history, the extent of the forests at the mountain edges has changed greatly – approaching Diósjenő, we can clearly feel that, with a few ancient oaks exceptions, we walk among increasingly younger trees (unfortunately often invaded by black locusts). Former meadows and arable lands are increasingly taken over by forests at the foot slopes due to the decline of traditional farming.

Halfway between Pénzásás and Diósjenő, we reach a resting place set up for Blue Trail hikers, where we can also catch a breath under the shade of old oaks. From here, after a last gentle climb, we ultimately descend through a young forest increasingly dominated by locust trees. Passing by a farmstead, the loose network of vineyards and orchards surrounding the village comes into view; soon we return to the village center and the market square.