Walk around Lom hill, enchanted by waters

Itinerary

• From the Kisrigó inn we follow the K mark into the Bükkös stream valley.
• Before the youth camp we turn left onto the K+ marks, which guide us to the Lajos spring.
• From the Lajos spring we turn right onto the Z▲ mark, staying on it up to the Lom hill slope.
• We turn right onto the P+ mark, which leads under the Lom hill summit.
• At the junction we turn right onto the P mark and stay on it up to the Sikárosi meadow corner.
• At Sikáros we turn right onto the K mark, which leads back to Pilisszentlászló.

Detailed description of the route

Heading towards the Dreher estate!

The Kisrigó inn stands on the border of Pilisszentlászló and the forest, making it an important base for hikers roaming the area. We leave the parking lot following the K mark; advancing on a well-trodden, wide bulldozer road into the forest. A few pines appear in the hornbeam-oak forest, below on the edge of a gully the hiking trail narrows. We cross a short stream on a bridge, whose deep, winding trench we can watch from a respectable distance from its steep, broken bank. Finally, we descend beside it and ford the watercourse. Mossy stones and fallen trees enliven the scenery, masking the fact that a paved road runs a few meters above – the larger boulders likely rolled down during its construction. After another ford and crossing the access road, we approach the Bükkös stream, but before reaching it, the trail turns left – from there we follow the K+ marks.

Within the youth camp (whose older counterpart we will pass near the end of the hike, a hundred meters from here) are renovated rain shelters and fire pits, as well as old benches and tables. (Near the end of the camp, under the trees, we can find the seasonally functioning Zergevirág spring.) The mark directs to the stream bank, which can often be challenging, as the Bükkös stream is replenished from the highest part of the Visegrád Mountains, hence it is considered voluminous, and fords can block our way. There is no bridge, only driftwood lying across and larger andesite blocks. The mark leads across a wider – but therefore shallow – spot to the opposite bank, where the trail forces a steep climb. We reach a young forest and a bulldozer road where we turn left. Looking back, the roofs lined on the southern side of Sikárosi meadow suddenly appear, but mostly we hike in dark forest – until a cleared beech forest on the Solymos side, where we leave the transport road and turn right, again onto a steep path. The connected block of the Lom and Bölcső hills nurtures several springs; among them, relatively high with low output, works the Kármán spring with a rock shelter. Before that, we turn left, follow a brief level path, then pass through a young woodland and the climb temporarily ends upon arriving at the sadly dilapidated building of the Lajos spring tourist house. The wooden-roofed house still exudes a friendly forest elegance in ruins; it is not hard to imagine what a charming, lively resting place it could have been (and could be) for local hikes. Next to the parking lot springs the lush Lajos spring, which was reportedly an important point of King Louis the Great’s hunts, but its name probably comes from Lajos Podmaniczky, who owned the local forested lands. (It was formerly known among the Serbs of Szentendre as Dobra Voda, meaning “Good water.”)

The spring and superb location also attracted the Dreher family, who owned the area before World War II and built a hunting castle and farm settlement on the site. They tried to keep nature tourists out, but from 1947 the area was taken over: as a symbol of “overcoming” social inequalities of the previous regime, the Nature Friends Hiking Association made one annex building into a tourist house. Six years later, under the management of the state Tourist House Management Company, the Ságvári Endre tourist house opened with a restaurant and 85 beds. It was expanded several times, and within a few years, a bus service reached it from Szentendre. Later, from the 1970s on, several changes of operators occurred, the house’s condition gradually deteriorated, and the restaurant was replaced by a buffet. In its final period, it only operated as a key house and hosted school classes until it closed permanently in 2005. Renovations have been discussed from time to time, but currently there are no plans.

In the Vésnök area

Behind the Lajos spring, the Z▲ mark heads for the summit of the Bölcső hill. At first, the extremely steep hill slope is covered by a diverse, natural grove, only broken by the young forest in the opening once intended as a ski slope. At the top, dark boulders lie scattered over the flat nose of the hill, from which the summit block rises almost like a rock castle. The Bölcső hill, like the Cser hill, is the remnant of an ancient lava channel, and its structure reveals the typical makeup of a stratovolcano: while the Lajos spring is sourced from a fragmental rock paste surfaced by eruptions, made of tuff, on it are installed solid rocks hardened from andesite lava blocks. With one last effort, we climb to the 588-meter summit.

Since autumn 2021, a lookout tower stands at the summit surrounded by lava rocks. The structure met an especially unfortunate fate, as despite being rebuilt twice, it only adorned the summit for a short period each time. In spring 1934, the Carpathian Association of Hungary erected a wooden tower on the Bölcső hill, and a protected shelter from all sides was also created at the base of the ornate building. The forest owner gave special permission for the tower and the trail leading to it, which fell on closed territory. However, in 1936 the forest became the possession of the Dreher family, who were not friendly to nature tourists: despite legal regulations, within a few months they closed the hiking trail and had the lookout tower demolished. After World War II it was rebuilt again, but when the nearby Lom hill summit was put into service as an air defense missile base (from 1981), it was dismantled again so that the military facility could not be seen from the top. Today, a simple structure rises just above the leaves, adorning the summit, with a narrow staircase and observation terrace fitting only 1-2 people at once. From here you can see the entire, very active surface of the Visegrád Mountains from Szentendre to Dobogókő, with the Börzsöny closing the northern end, and the Buda Hills undulating in the south. We can also spot the highest representatives of the Northern Central Mountains, the Mátra, and even the Bükk in clear weather far away.

Bidding farewell to the rocky terrain sprinkled with a sea of stones around the summit, young forest replaces the old beech, and we arrive at a wide transport road. From the junction, we turn right onto the P+ mark. We cross the feeding area of the Holdvilág-ditch stream. The modest heights and slopes devoid of brooks do not hint at the irresistible force with which water shaped the surroundings just 1 kilometer from here. We briefly step onto a conspicuously wide cart road, which then disappears towards the summit of the Lom hill. On the flat top of this dominant highland around the capital, one of the air defense complexes operated between 1981 and 1996. The missile base codenamed "Vésnök" was supplied with soldiers (and their provisions) transported from the Szentendre (Izbég) barracks, and naturally it was a closed area avoided by hiking trails. (Moreover, the unfortunate lookout of the neighboring, nearly equally high Bölcső hill had to be demolished so that the military facility could remain hidden from unwanted eyes.) Old concrete buildings are slowly being swallowed by vegetation, yet (or therefore) they provide an interesting, post-apocalyptic view and a unique trace of the era. Entry to the area is prohibited, and the buildings are in dangerous condition.

The water-soaked basin

We traverse increasingly beautiful oak forests sideways along the hill slope, as the forest meant to conceal the base was left undisturbed for a long time. Soon we start descending and turn right at a junction onto the P mark. Within minutes we reach the Lom hill saddle road junction. Among the former forest renewals, only one of the venerable oaks that played an important “parent role” remains standing. From here, we turn left onto the P marks. The oaks mingle with hornbeams, and mossy stones cover the slope that the path side-steps downward. This atmospheric section joins an abandoned bulldozer road; it is difficult to walk among the boulders and fallen, rotten branches. From a clearing, we can see the mountains rising on the far side of Sikáros, and soon we exit the forest to enter one of the most beautiful corners of the Visegrád Mountains, Sikáros: a wide meadow sprinkled with groups of trees and framed by mountains. Streams flowing from the surrounding mountains cross the flowery meadow of Sikárosi, whose sediments fill the basin and keep the soil moist. Moreover, the Szilágyi Bernát spring arises in one corner. This environment provided a home to many species of horsetail. Because the plant repels pests (e.g., animals wishing to graze) with its silica content, it is suitable for “sikárlás,” that is rubbing in vessels – thus some species are popularly known as sikár. Hence the name Sikáros may originate. We cross the isolated, peaceful meadow, and as we proceed, the edges, sprinkled with groups of pines, get closer together.

Sikáros initially only provided homes for forest wardens, but its well-located, water-supplied basin slowly attracted people wishing to cultivate land. Although no village formed, one can infer the former Bükki puszta farmstead from a few mounds – there where our mark reaches the meadow. The small settlement became the scene of a terrible and somewhat mysterious murder: in 1947, five teenage boys were guarding the animals when someone slaughtered them. The culprit also killed two other people near the Lajos spring on the same day; their identity was never revealed (despite attempts by contemporary propaganda and rumors). The Bükki puszta was previously owned by the Dreher family (from Budapest), who owned significant territory in the area. The residents were probably expelled sometime in the 1950s due to a military exercise, never to return; the buildings suffered severe damage. Exactly what (and when) happened is unknown.

Right at the corner of Sikáros we turn right onto the K mark, and after a few larger bends under trees, we reach the Szilágyi Bernát spring. (It is named after the founder and former president of the Nature Friends Hiking Association.) The water springs in an atmospheric place (unfortunately only after heavy rain or snowmelt, so don’t count on it in summer), with birches and pines overhanging the small resting place, the fish-tail and leaf curtains moving in the breeze over the grass of Sikárosi meadow. From the shelter of the trees, stepping into the sunlight (or the mist lining the basin), we can take a few more glances at this unique, peaceful landscape, then circling the forester’s house awaits the lushest, densest vegetation section of the Bükkös stream valley.

Back along the Bükkös stream

We cross a ford and visit the Lenkó memorial obelisk – Ede Lenkó, a member of the TTE, died here on a winter tour in 1917. Although the stream cut deeply between resistant mountain blocks, it formed a wide bed. The gravel bed at the valley bottom is drawn into curves by the waters of the highest sections of the Visegrád Mountains, nourished by raging floods, under whose pressure grim boulders lie. During calm periods the water seeps under fallen tree trunks and even disappears at one bend (where we cross it). We curve together with the humid, lush forested valley. After another ford, the path leads to the muddy but full-flowing Kárpát spring. The original enclosure was prepared by the Carpathian Association of Hungary in 1933 – its naming aimed, according to the inauguration speech, to “arouse an insatiable desire to reclaim the Hungarian Carpathians,” as “every drop is a tear of the captive Carpathians.”

We cross the increasingly thick and sanguine humor-filled Bükkös stream on a wooden bridge, which we accompany for a long time. The Kárpát spring’s enclosure was once known as Bucsin, a word meaning roaring or rumbling in various Slavic languages, and also referring to beech woods. The mountainous region abundantly replenishes the gray andesite blocks, and its stepped and blocked bed is indeed noisy not only with babbling but also roaring. (Previously it was also called Apor or later Malom stream.)

We don’t stay long by the Bükkös stream and turn left after the former youth camp, returning on the K mark to the Kisrigó inn section we got to know at the start of the hike.