The King of Bakony

Itinerary

• We start from the bus stop on the K trail towards the stream (Ady Endre St.).
• At the entrance of the Gerence Valley, we switch to the K+ trail and follow the stream for 3 km to the Gerence Valley car rest area.
• At the rest area, crossing the road, we start climbing on the P trail, which we stay on up to the asphalt road below the summit of Kőris Mountain.
• At one of the bends, we change to the K trail, then via an unmarked path we reach the summit of the mountain.
• From Kőris Mountain, we descend to the Kisszépalmapuszta rest area on the K trail.
• From the rest area, we continue running on the Z trail, then join the Z+ trail through a short K section and a longer unmarked section.
• The Z+ trail merges into the K trail further down, on which we return to the starting point.

Detailed route description

Starting from the bus stop, we begin running on the K trail along the asphalt of Ady Endre street. We turn right onto Fürdő street, and when the asphalt ends, after crossing a small wooden bridge and the Gerence stream, we continue on a single-track path. After another wooden bridge, a bit of asphalt follows to the right, then at a bend we switch to the K+ trail and set off along the stream on the left bank, downstream. We remain on the K+ trail for about 3 km until the Gerence Valley car rest area. Since the stream's gradient is slight, the path basically only rises or falls to bypass obstacles. The single-track path is runnable almost all the way, sometimes faster and more comfortably, sometimes slower and more carefully (e.g., due to fallen trees). Approaching the Odvaskő Hotel, the K+ trail optionally climbs steeply to the left into the hillside, necessary in case of high water levels; otherwise, we can stay on the shore section, saving a slippery steep descent. We cross the bridge before the parking lot, go left to the lower end of the rest area, then go up to the paved road, and carefully crossing it, slightly to the left we find the steep steps of the P trail.

We start climbing the steps and follow the P trail for about 5 km up to the summit of Kőris Mountain. At the top of the steps, we run on a slightly ascending, winding single-track path, which then transitions into a forest road. Further up, at one point, the PΩ trail branches right to the Odvas-kő cave; although the distance is short, it is far below us, so due to the extremely steep and slippery descent and ascent, it's better to skip it—13 km still await us from here. After the junction, the next section is more relaxing and less steep, sometimes turning onto forest management roads. Further up, a very beautiful section follows without logging or forest roads: we run in a primeval beech forest, among huge beech trees' gray elephant legs. Still higher up, we several times get onto shorter and longer sections of the gravel Rézbükki road, then emerge onto the asphalt road leading to Kőris Mountain's infrastructure, which merges with the P trail. However, at the third bend, stepping over the ribbon guardrail (following the K trail for 100 m), we climb steeply on a direct single-track path to the summit. This part is hardly runnable; those who want to stay in momentum or protect their ankles can safely choose the longer winding but less steep paved road. Finally, we reach the air traffic control radar, which we bypass on the right to arrive below the Vajda Péter lookout tower. It's worth going up the lookout, from where you can see the Bakony ranges all around. The easiest to identify is of course Kab-hegy and its radio tower, but wine lovers can happily spot Somló, and on clearer days you can also make out the Pannonhalma abbey.

Kőris Mountain marks almost exactly the halfway point of the route. From the lookout tower, we start descending on the K trail perpendicular to the contour lines, so very steeply. The uppermost section is very rocky; later the stones thin out, and the steepness eases. We reach an atmospheric beech forest and then again a steeper and narrower section follows. Descending, like through a gate, stepping out between two beech trees, the forest suddenly ends, and after crossing a shrubbery, we arrive at the Kisszépalmapuszta rest area with a rain shelter.

We turn right on the asphalt road, then after 50 m left onto the Z trail into the forest. We run on the Z trail for about 3 km, mostly on forest and forestry roads. This is the gently descending section of the route, pleasant and rhythmically runnable, except for some sections where tracked machines left half-meter-deep grooves in the ground during logging; here run more carefully. After reaching a large clearing, we turn right onto the K trail but only for about 50 meters because then we turn left onto an unmarked, wide gravel road that allows faster running. The road further down, around a large left turn, joins an even wider gravel road and simultaneously the Z+ trail. Slightly further down, we leave the Z+ trail to the left and meander in the small valley parallel to the gravel Lipka road on its left side, about 20–30 m away—thus, depending on the condition at the end of the route, you can choose: those who are very tired can stay on the gravel Z+ trail. At the very bottom of this section, at a T junction, we turn right onto the K trail asphalt road, on which we run 1 km downhill back to the bus stop.