Walk in the wilderness of the Háromhuta mountains

Itinerary

• From Középhuta we follow the hardly noticeable red C signs to the Czárán rest area.
• From the Czárán rest area the orange trapezoid signs show the way to the valley.
• We walk along the asphalt road to Óhuta, to the terrace of the cafe opposite the forest school.
• From the cafe we turn left and head uphill following the sparse red T signs.
• At the upper end of the Forrás meadow, we join a forest road on the path behind Emőke rest area.
• From the forest road we take a detour to the left to the Fox rest area following the red Z signs, then descend again.
• The very rare red T signs lead down the forest road all the way to the creek valley.
• Crossing the creek, we turn left onto the P◼ sign.
• Next to the Zabarla peak, the barely visible red Z sign heads downhill leading to the asphalt road.
• We follow the asphalt road to the right, then the first left branching, following an unmarked bike trail, we reach the Tear Drop Lake.
• From Tear Drop Lake, the P+ signs indicate the way to the junction at the top of the climb.
• At the junction, we take a left detour on the P▲ sign to the Friend rest area, then return.
• Following the P+ signs, we reach Kis-Királyos, then descend across it to the Kiraly-kuti creek.
• Crossing the creek, we turn right on the forest road on the far side and return to the edge of Óhuta.
• Turning left, we reach the Középhuta bus stop along the road.

Detailed Description of the Tour

Unusual Forest Landscape

We leave the valley of the hut villages between two houses on a gravel dead-end street heading east. We cross a bridge over the stream at the edge of the valley, then climb through dense young forest trampling an abandoned, eroded bulldozer road. The barely noticeable red C signs lead through a wild atmosphere forest beneath increasing pines; in a bend, a rock carved away during road construction appears, with grassy carpet covering the bike trail in the foreground. After the rock projection, we immediately turn right onto a forest path and climb a short but extremely steep slope with roots and rock ridges to the ridge of Éles-bérc. It is worth carefully stepping a few steps forward on the rock edge covered with a thick moss carpet, barely breaking the forest pattern, as not only the opposite hillside but also the Regéc castle becomes visible to the left.

From here, we will not see any signs but follow the wide, abandoned forest road leading east in line. The dark corridors of old spruce patches are replaced by a lush grassy meadow, reminding for the first time in the tour of the tight Carpathian linkages of the Tokaj Mountains. The reason for the formation of the diverse, fresh forest lies in the history of local land use: the beech forests around Regéc were burnt down from the end of the 17th century in the first glassworks of the mountain range, the present-day Háromhuta area. The glass melting operation closed after two centuries, then in the 1920s, the owner Waldbott estate built a narrow-gauge railway from Vámosújfalu into the valley and began drastic logging—often breaking the rules of the era. The forest could only survive where the Waldbotts organized hunts for their distinguished guests, for instance near Újhuta. In the 1950s, coniferous forests were planted on the deforested mountain slopes in many places, making the surrounding forest mosaic noticeably more entertaining than the national average even today.

The Transylvanian Connection

At a bend in the road, a meadow is visible between the trees to the left—a Carpathian long-distance hiking route marked with a orange trapezoid sign shows the direction out to the clearing. From the rounded, grassy ledge of the Czárán rest area, a captivating panorama opens of the surrounding mountain ranges from Regéc Castle Hill to the ridge carrying Zsidó-rét. The pine-framed hillside lookout evokes the Carpathians, hence its name; it commemorates Gyula Czárán, an active expert of the Transylvanian tourism "heroic age." The renowned writer and cave explorer worked primarily in the Transylvanian Bihar Mountains around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. While he was called "Prince of Galbina" (Galbina is a gorge on the side of the Pádís Plateau) because of this, the Középhuta path and rest were developed by the "local Czárán," Gábor Bődi (1953–2017), who owned a summer house in the village.

The Last Refuge of Oil Lamps

A bench made under a pine tree offers a resting place. With our backs to it, we descend on a slippery, steep path into the dark, dense spruce forest, which we cross on an atmospheric trail. Down below, we reach the Középhuta asphalt road and head left to walk through Óhuta. Although we follow asphalt all the way, the route is enjoyable due to the pastures between the villages and the surrounding mountain views. Háromhuta was founded by glassmakers settled from Poland at the end of the 17th century, who continued working in woodworking after the glassworks closed. The hard-to-reach, remote string of villages received little attention in the 20th century, as evidenced by the fact that it was the last "oil lantern village" in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county—meaning a settlement that had electricity introduced. Almost 100 years after the country's electrification began, the cable reached the Tolcsva creek valley in 1962.

A Half Circle in the Carpathians

Óhuta stretches along the narrower part of the valley, showing a slightly terraced image in places; the well-kept houses with porches line up next to each other in the forest foothills. The village center hosts a cafe opposite the forest school, worth stopping by for refreshments because the harder, second half of the tour follows. The rarely and faintly marked red T signs guide past the front of the cafe into the forest, where a short but especially steep climb begins on a narrow path. We pass the signposted Rejtek meadow, then after its top, the path turns right and crosses a scree slope to emerge beside Babuka Lake, at the Forrás meadow. Although the lake is fed with small ferns and pines, the spring water no longer flows out through the drainpipe. Crossing the meadow, an old beech tree stands at the top with the Emőke rest area (and a Trianon memorial behind), offering a view from its bench. Over the pine tops, the valley of hut villages unfolds, lined by tall mountains. Bődi Gábor, who developed the tourist trail and rest areas and mowed the meadow for a long time, named this high-mountain atmosphere site and its spring and rest area after his own daughter.

The path emerges behind the rest area through the trees onto a forest road, from which a barely noticeable red K sign invites left—the branching path can be recognized by a railing made next to it. We climb steeply to the Fox rest area, a small meadow next to a moss-covered rock scree on a heavily eroded soil by wild boar tracks on a steep mountainside. The view from here is the same as from the Forrás meadow but from a higher position, making the central mountain range peaks look even more impressive.

The rare red T signs continue on a forest-level path on the side of the Fox peak—we won't see the signs much, but the path is unmistakable. We advance through a wild, mixed, sometimes dark and sometimes light-covered forest of beech trees; further on, it is as if we had wandered onto trails of the Low Tatras, with dense spruce trees guarding the side of the green path. Eventually, we turn into a pine forest with fallen trunks and scattered blocks, alongside a brook ditch the dark path cuts through. We descend for a long time, crossing a clearing; pines only remain lower down, but the Carpathian atmosphere remains strong. From an overgrown, level path, the trail curves upwards around an elongated pasture with a house at its bottom. Crossing to the other side, we descend into the valley, where the Mély creek must be ford crossed.

Following the Pastures

On the far side of the creek, we turn left onto the P◼ sign, which targets the Zabarla peak as a steep narrow trail. We climb through an old, atmospheric oak forest with centuries-old heritage trees to the former wooded pasture, which is now somewhat wild but still opens views of the surrounding mountains. Ahead, the huge cone-top Regéc castle appears, worth climbing the wide, flat summit for the sight. We also reach the rocky peak of Kis-Zabarla, where the view is limited. (The name Zabarla may have two origins: from the word 'zabola' meaning bridled, referring to land use, or the Slavic 'zabar' meaning 'beyond the pine forest.')

Our route leaves the uphill trail shortly after the start of the clearing to the right—watch your phone screen because the red Z sign is barely visible. However, the path is visible even in tall grass, and to the right, the long valley of the villages is visible from a new angle. We eventually descend into the valley where we turn right on the road. Shortly before, an unmarked cart track branches off to the left; we turn onto this.

With a short climb, we reach the wide meadow of Tear Drop Lake and the excellent, water-rich Pálos spring next to it. Benches, tables, and a hammock stand by the lake; the atmosphere is idyllic and worth resting. In the past, the area was used as a clearing pasture to drive animals up from the narrow valley; old fruit trees are still scattered here and there. The source was dammed by monks living in a monastery founded around the 13-14th centuries to breed fish in it. (Although the current lake was established by a local resident and mayor.) The monks lived here in complete isolation, as the valley villages emerged only after the monastery's destruction. The building complex was ransacked by King Ferdinand's marshal in the mid-16th century, though monks returned briefly later. The place of the “Regéc Paul monastery” was shrouded in mist until the early 21st century as the ruins disappeared from the site, with stones believed to have been incorporated into nearby buildings. The remains were covered by vegetation, so agriculture avoided them—the growing trees outlined the former convent's location, thus the building was found.

A View to the Other Side

The P+ signs guide us across the pasture and call left upon reaching the hillside. A longer climb begins until we can turn left onto the P▲ sign. This about 5-minute detour leads to the Friend rest area's lookout above Tear Drop Lake. The high peaks on the western edge of the mountain range and Regéc castle dominate the view behind the Huta valley. Returning to the P+ sign, we soon reach the narrowing ridge of Kis-Királyos mountain, where another viewpoint awaits. From a shaded bench on the rocky ledge top, we can admire the meeting of the Huta valley and the Tolcsva creek valley, and the steeply sloping mountains watching over them. One of the tour's most beautiful panoramic points lies high above the valleys in a secluded spot, with the Regéc castle visible at the far end.

The path snakes down through an ancient oak forest, then reaches the valley of Király-kúti creek on a forest road. Although the signs here would lead us right, the clearing in front of the house in the forest is private land despite the lack of fencing. Therefore, we follow the forest road to the nearby ford, where we can easily step over the small, low-flow narrow creek. On the far side, we walk back on a wide gravel road (to the right) to the edge of Óhuta, from where we turn left and return to Középhuta at the bus stop along the asphalt road.