Pados Cave

Pados Cave is a cave located in the Pilis Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park, situated in Oszoly.

Description

It is located in the outskirts of Csobánka, on the southern side of the second rock group east of the Óra wall in Oszoly, at the foot of a rock wall. It lies 40 m south of the Rózsalugas passage and 10 m lower. The cave formed in Upper Triassic Dachstein limestone, and its shapes are defined by collapse fissures. A rock slab divides the cave entrance into two parts, of which the upper, 1.3 m wide and 0.7 m high, is more comfortably passable. A single chamber is 3 × 3 m, 1.5–2.5 m high, and its floor is covered with coarse stone rubble. Because of its interesting shape, the almost completely untouched and freely visitable cave is worth seeing.

In 1984 the cave was first called Pados Cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the name Pados barlang (Kordos 1971).

Research history

In the book *Piliss Guidebook* published in 1967 it was mentioned that on the southern side facing Oszoly Csobánka, among the forest‑surrounded limestone rocks, there are several insignificant cavities. According to a report published in the 1969 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin, in August 1969 the Speleology Cave Research Group placed fixed points in Oszoly and in the eight smaller and larger cavities on the Oszoly side during a camp organized in Kevélyek. In 1970 Erzsébet Wehovszky and Ádám Welker surveyed the 4.5 m long and 2.5 m deep cave with lost points and a mining compass. Based on the survey, Erzsébet Wehovszky produced a 1:100 scale floor plan map with a cross‑section and a longitudinal section map, which were drawn by László Kordos.

In the 1970 report of the Speleology Cave Exploration Group it is stated that the Pados cave opens at the base of one of the rock groups above Margit Park. Its entrance opening is divided horizontally into two parts by a stalactite rock slab. This is followed by a chamber of about 2 m diameter. The cave’s upper part was probably formed by thermal water in Upper Triassic, white, compact Dachstein limestone. There is a thick humus layer at the bottom of the dry cave. It can be viewed without equipment. Erzsébet Wehovszky and Ádám Welker discovered the cave in the spring of 1970, in which there were digging tools and empty bottles. They surveyed the cave. The cave does not appear in the literature. The 1970 maps were included as an annex to the report.

In the book published in 1974 titled Pilis Guidebook, in the list of caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains (pages 19–20) it is mentioned that among the caves of the Pilis Mountains and the Visegrád Mountains are the Oszoly caves. According to the section describing the caves of the Pilis Mountains, there are a dozen small caves among the Oszoly rocks rising above Csobánka. These were mapped and regularly explored by the Speleology Cave Exploration Group. Most of these small caves are not very spectacular, but they must be mentioned because some of them provide excellent bivouac possibilities in the Oszoly rock walls regularly visited by tourists, especially rock climbers, and near them. There is a 5 m long cave at the foot of the larger rock group rising above Oszoly Margit Park.

In a manuscript written by Bertalan Károly and completed in 1976 it is stated that the Pados cave is located in the Kevély group in the Pilis Mountains, in Csobánka. It opens at the base of one of the rock groups above Margitliget and consists of a single chamber. The 4.5 m long and 2.5 m deep cave entrance is divided into two parts by a rock slab. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on a manuscript. In the nationwide cave list of the book *Caves of Hungary*, published in 1984, the cave appears among the caves of the Pilis Mountains under the name Pados Cave. In connection with the list, the geographical location of the cave is shown on a 1:500 000 scale map depicting the location of the caves of the Dunazug Mountains.

The guidebook published in 1991 mentions that at the foot of the larger rock formation rising above the Oszoly area of Margitliget there is a 5 m long cave. The book repeats the description from the 1974 guidebook, which generally describes the caves of the Oszoly area. In the compilation by József Kárpát, written in 1991, it is mentioned that the Pados Cave (Csobánka) is 5 m long and 0 m deep. The 1996 cave day guidebook repeats the description found in the 1991 guidebook, which generally describes the caves of the Oszoly area.

On May 23, 1997, based on József Kárpát's 1990 overview map of the Oszoly area, Sándor Kraus drew a site plan showing the geographic locations of the cavities of the Oszoly rock pillars. The plan shows the geographic position of the cave marked with the name Pados. On May 23, 1997, József Regős surveyed the cave and, based on the survey, on May 24, 1997, Sándor Kraus drew a base‑plan map at a scale of 1:50, depicting two cross‑sections. In Sándor Kraus's 1997 report it is readable that the Pados cave was known before 1997, but it had no map before 1997. The 1997 site plan was included in the report. The book *Magyar hegyisport és turista enciklopédia*, published in 2005, mentions that in the Oszoly forest rock blocks and small cave openings alternate sporadically.