Wandering along the stones of Northern Bükk

Itinerary:

• We start from the Csanyik Valley following the Z+ trail to the Keskeny-lyuk meadow.
• From Keskeny-lyuk we briefly follow the Z trail to the Kaszás-meadow junction.
• From Kaszás-meadow we go on the P+ trail to Csókás, where we take a short detour of a few meters down on the PΩ trail to the Udvar-kő Cave.
• From Csókás pond we follow the P trail for a long stretch to the side of Örvény-kő.
• We ascend Örvény-kő from the east on the P▲ trail; descend on the other side on the S▲ trail.
• We traverse briefly on the S trail, then arrive at Szentlélek through the K+ trail via the Látó-kövek.
• We descend along the S+ trail in the Szentlélek valley to the Garadna narrow gauge railway station.

Description

In the Csanyik Valley Friend Forest

Starting at the entrance of Csanyik Valley, from the pharmacy parking lot, we follow the Z+ and P+ trails. Immediately at the turn behind the pharmaceutical factory, we branch off on the P+ trail toward Forrás Valley, which is also an exciting, atmospheric alternative access route to Kis-Fennsík highland, but we continue on the Z+ trail in the dense oak forest for the ridge experience and viewpoints. The slope covered with continuous oak woods, called Friend Forest, probably took its name from the Pauline monks of Diósgyőr. At the beginning of Csanyik Valley, a similarly named settlement existed here where the population settled to supply the monks.

In the monks' forest, our route steadily climbs until after a steeper, rocky slope and a forest clearing, we reach Hársas Hill, which peaks in a dense karst shrub forest. The gentle forests behind the hill promise comfortable walking for the next kilometer. Though we walk through planted oak woods, these continuous forests are the buffer zones of the Bükk wilderness, representing transitional areas between the inner, wild, species-rich forests and the settlements surrounding the mountain range.

The comfortable forest walk is broken by the next terrain step. Leaving the Friend Forest, we climb on an increasingly rocky and steep terrain on the side of Nagy-Galya, forming the edge of Kis-Fennsík. We arrive at a true borderland, climbing from the soft, clayey, sandy Quaternary deposits, barely a few 10 million years old, to the Triassic-aged, 220-210 million-year-old Kis-Fennsík limestone block. The rock type fundamentally influences the atmosphere here; from now on, the landscape is shaped by karst formations: sinkholes, caves, limestone slopes grooved by erosion.

In the winding Kis-Fennsík area

Ascending the rocky steep side of Galya, we arrive at a forest clearing edged with knotted oaks, dogwoods, and hawthorns where we switch to the Z trail. From the flowering Keskeny-lyuk meadow, superb views open over the hilly, densely forested Kis-Fennsík region. Below us, the gorge of Forrás Valley is visible, flanked by beech woods on the ridge above the cabins. One step back, the northern edge of Bükk-Fennsík towers over the Garadna valley. Opposite us, Örvény-kő, the tour’s climax, stands over the winding Kis-Fennsík, recognizable by its solitary, old beeches crowned by a semicircular peak.

We descend along the meadow to a saddle at the edge of a sinkhole, from where we comfortably traverse along the upper spring basin edge, among erosion furrows, to the Forrás Valley saddle at the junction of paths. It is worth taking an unmarked trail west from the junction to see the Kaszás-meadow resurgence a few tens of meters away. Here, the shallow valley stream disappears under the sinkhole floor, to surface again about a hundred meters lower in the Upper Spring. Just above the resurgence, in the rocky section, opens the Lilla Cave, which functioned as an older surface sinkhole.

From the junction, heading west-northwest, we continue on a comfortable flat path on the P+ trail, which skirts the broad cone of the meadowed Kaszás-rét in a large arc. As familiar on karst plateaus, the surface is corrugated by rounded depressions between gentle cones. This is true here as well: after detouring Kaszás meadow, we circle in a large arc and on the same level around the large sinkhole below. On the opposite hillside at Kőlyukgalyá open several strictly protected caves, the most interesting being the Hillebrand Jenő Cave whose sealed chambers hold cultic pasts. On the walls are found engravings imitating cave bear scratches, while in one of the inner chambers, posts driven into the soil and hearth remains were revealed. The cave being too deep and secluded, experts consider it an as yet unexplained prehistoric cult site.

We join the limestone sinkhole row formed as the imprint of a former valley. After another bend, we reach Kaszás-meadow valley, which are rather reflect the surface traces of multi-million-year-old sinkholes and collapses. In one sinkhole PΩ trail leads down, worth exploring. The moss-covered rocks surround a funnel-shaped depression that disappears in a gigantic throat called "Dante’s Inferno." The name is apt, as the rock canyon with stairs ends in a hall-like chamber filled with tree trunks and boulders. Udvar-kő is actually a collapsed cave chamber, with cave formations covering the rock walls. We enter the lowest chamber under a rock arch where shallow hollows open in the wall. The collapse has a unique, gorge-forest-like climate hosting lush vegetation growing on the walls. After snow-rich winters, frozen snow can be found here even in late spring, and temperatures remain pleasantly mild in summer.

Climbing out of Dante’s Inferno, we continue on the P+ trail, traversing along the edge of the sinkhole row in the dense, dark forest. Circumventing the last significant sinkhole, we arrive at the old beech forest of Csókás. If we want to quench our thirst with cool karst water, a spring is here as well. On the southern edge of the sinkhole, water trickles from a stone-lined basin called Csókás spring, then a few tens of meters downstream, the spring-fed intermittent stream disappears into the Csókási cave at the base of the sinkhole. Near the spring stand wooden houses, a large rain shelter, benches, and fire pits welcoming tourists in the shade of old beech crowns. Csókás is a popular picnic area since the Szentlélek road bends just a few hundred meters away, from where a forest road closed to public traffic leads north to Varbó.

Next to the asphalt road, we turn onto the P trail, which cuts into the Nyúlászi side through a clearing above Csókás meadow. Here, the S trail joins from the north, but soon separates near the intimate forest clearing by Nyúlászi hunting lodge. We then cross the Szentlélek road to continue on the Kis-Fennsík edge in a richly shrub-layered beech forest.

On the plateau and the edge of Garadna valley along the inner stones

Our route leads through a special area in every respect. The stone-connecting path used by forest people and later by tourists became official by the end of the 2010s at the boundary of the strictly protected area. From here, dense plateau forests give way to rocky ridge grasslands opening the dense karst shrub forest, and the steep cliffs provide habitat for many protected species.

The path sharply turns out from the beech forest onto a rocky ridge where we join the old path near Vidróczky cave. The name Vidróczky Márton is familiar to locals; he was a famous outlaw Palóc lad born on the western edge of Bükk, hiding in Bükk and Mátra forests. Legend says his name was hammered into the cave wall with silver rivets. Above Garadna valley, several habitable hollows and caves open, which served as outlaw hideouts in recent centuries, and earlier as habitats for prehistoric humans and Ice Age animals.

On the ridge path, we tackle the next step where the mountains, previously around 500 meters, rise above 600 meters. With over 200 meters relative height above Garadna valley, we hike in truly exposed mountain terrain. The ridge sharply drops southward, narrowing as we reach the rocky ledge of Magos-kő. Here, at the most visited stone of Northern Bükk, we can meet hikers, trail runners, sun worshippers, photographers, and nature explorers at any time of day, enjoying the natural experience.

Magos-kő’s popularity is understandable: well-accessible and easy terrain offers unforgettable views. The rock column standing like a bastion over the steep south face of Három-kúti valley is among the tallest of the inner stones. Below, Garadna valley unfolds like a tabletop. Its exposed, south-facing position causes spring’s first flowers to bloom here in the northern beech forest. For most of the year, the sunrise visible above Garadna valley’s defile over the Borsod lowland is easily seen, while in winter’s foggy weather the wave of fog rolling in from the Great Plain creates a captivating spectacle on the stones.

We continue on the old beech-covered plateau behind the ridge, still following the P trail. A few hundred meters later, we cross the Szentlélek road (not for the last time), then with a gentle climb arrive at the gravel forest road to Barátság-kert, which we follow to its branch. Below us, dense forest shelters the Barátság-kerti resurgence, deep below the Szamentu cave, home to one of the largest Bükk cave chambers discovered. This rock-border sump functions like the Kaszás-meadow and Csókási sinkholes, here the just-born brook disappears under a cliff wall. The Kis-Fennsík limestone here forms an isolated block standing beside less karstified rocks, building up Örvény-kő.

On the Pagan Altar and the Látó Stones

The P trail cuts the road’s curve; in the forest on the far side, the P▲ trail branches off to the top of Örvény-kő, which we also follow. The path winds in the shade of old beeches on increasingly rocky ground. Many fallen trees and curved young stands are victims of the great snowstorm of early 2017. A bad April trick: after Easter, the southern slopes and young stands already in leaf were covered with nearly half a meter of snow, mostly in this elevation zone. Lower down it rained, higher up the trees were still leafless, so the forest was most damaged in precisely the 500 to 700 meter zone.

From the saddle beside the forepeak, we ascend among mossy rocks to the summit. The karst surface grooved by erosion harbors rich vegetation: in spring, lunar violets bloom purple on the forest floor, in winter the Judas tree’s papery thin fruits flutter in the wind. Approaching the summit, the S▲ trail joins from the left, and together we reach the lookout on the right, which is also the highest point of Örvény-kő.

On the rocky, erosion-grooved summit stands the Jókai memorial, which local nature walkers wreath every March 15. The writer often came here when hiding in Tardon after the revolution’s fall. The view is indeed special from this peak. Through the increasingly tall growing trees, we look north toward the Borsod and Upper Hungary landscape. Beneath, the descending northern Bükk forelands at Dédestapolcsány again reach Bán valley, then rise again by the blue ribbon of Lázbérci reservoir in Uppony mountains, extending to the distant dark Carpathians. Especially in clear weather, mostly in winter, the Tatra Mountains are well visible when the sun lights the luminous, snow-covered peaks above the forest line; the Low Tatras’ band stretches far into the damp horizon. To the right the 'fangs' of the High Tatras, distinguished granite peaks tower from Lomnici, the outermost peak, to the sugar-glass shaped Gerlachfalvi peak. Örvény-kő’s atmosphere is shaped by the old beech forest below the lookout. Below us, the Kis-Fennsík limestone block breaks off in 20-30 meter vertical cliffs, with cave recesses and cavities popular with rock climbers. These wall hollows and pits may have given Örvény-kő its name.

Down from the summit, we follow the S▲ trail which bends west through a rock gate and among the centuries-old beech pillars. A short but steep descent brings us down from Örvény-kő, and in the forest below we join the S trail which comfortably traverses toward Mária spring on forest roads.

However, in the developing slope at the valley head, before the springs, we turn left on the K+ trail to traverse north-facing beech forest toward the Látó Stones. If thirsty for fresh spring water, it is worth making the couple hundred meter detour to Mária spring, as the karst spring at the forest edge beside the forestry trail bubbles abundantly even during the greatest droughts from its moss-covered opening.

The increasingly dense slope takes on a steep, rocky character along the K+ trail approaching the rocks. The path crosses several impressive, decayed beech trunks, which also show marks of a special weather event. At the end of the 2000s, after the storm season, a unique thunderstorm struck over Szilvásvárad, devastating a wide strip from Bánkút to here, typical of tornado damage.

From the regenerating dense forest, the Látó Stones’ cliff, with crooked slabs rising high, appears to the right. It is worth climbing the most gentle ledge on the left side to the top of the rocky plateau, which is an easier rock climb. The view is worth the effort: it provides a broader panorama than Örvény-kő. Wide slices open toward Northern Bükk and the hills of Borsod. Below is clearly visible the forestry trail by Mária spring, to the right is the rounded peak of Örvény-kő crowned by old beeches, opposite appear the wavy rock formations peeking out from Odvas-kő forest, and to the left the wide-sprinkled hillside of Kemesnye-kő with its white rocks.

Back to Garadna Valley

We climb back to the ridge with a short slope, where at the summit stands a majestic, special ancient beech matriarch. The old beech roots protrude 1.5 meters above the ground, forming a conical base. The highest point of the roots marks the original ground surface when the beech sapling sprouted several hundred years ago, giving an idea of erosion rates on the ridge.

Crossing the forest road, we descend through young stands on the K+ trail toward Szentlélek. We reach the asphalt road of the Szentlélek resort among old beeches, arriving at the former Herman Ottó tourist house. It operates a tourist buffet and offers accommodation during the season on weekends. Next to the tourist house, on the ridge edge, stand the ruins of the Pauline monastery of Bükk-szentlék. From the main nave with impressive walls and arches opens a small side room; to the north, remains of old monk cells can be seen.

The quickest way from here back to Garadna Valley toward Ómassa is on the K+ trail, but first it’s worth exploring the atmosphere of Szentlélek valley along the S+ trail. For this, we must return to the guesthouse and detour around the meadow below Szentlélek on the dozer road under the parking lot, following the S+ trail in a large arc. From here, we follow the forestry road developing deeper in the valley with a comfortable descent. The trail was named after Adolf Kühne, an enthusiastic nature walker of the Bükk region, who established the route at the end of the 19th century during the early days of nature touring. Initially a bright path accompanied by ash and oak trees, it passes along the shaded valley floor surrounded by steeper slopes in the lower valley. Supported by the water of Köpüs spring, a tiny stream murmurs alongside, collecting the waters of Három-kúti valley at the valley’s lower end.

Arriving on the flat bank beside former charcoal burner terraces, we reach the Ómassa road beside the picturesque Garadna meadow. On the right behind the stable is the bus stop and the final station of the Garadna narrow gauge railway. Once, Ómassa residents used this to go to work in the city’s ironworks; now the railway mostly serves tourists. A playground, buffet, and exhibition enrich the forest clearing deeply seated in Garadna valley, where we can also find attractive options for refreshment, rest, or heading home.