JAUNTS : Trail Winds Through Thrilling Days of Old : A hike to Rocky Peak near Simi Valley will give you an eyeful of scenery that served as a backdrop for some well-known Westerns.

Hike the Rocky Peak Trail near Simi Valley, where it meets the Los Angeles County line, and you’ll feel as if you’ve been plunked down into an old Wild West movie.

All around you are dramatic sandstone outcroppings and cliffs, the kind that cowboys would leap off to wrestle the bad guys. It’s hard to believe that this quiet spot is so close to the roar of freeway traffic and the hum of suburban life.

The hike to a lookout point just below Rocky Peak is about five miles round-trip. The trek, considered moderately difficult, has a 1,140-foot gain in elevation, with Rocky Peak registering at 2,712 feet.

The trail is actually a dirt fire road, wide enough for several people to walk abreast. It climbs rather sharply for the first mile, then levels out some for a gentler incline.

The views of Simi Valley and Santa Susana Pass are stunning. The pass was used by Chumash who traded and hunted in the area. Later, it was a stagecoach route.

Sandstone rock formations, carved 65 million years ago, dot the landscape--some in amazing configurations that defy balance. One of them forms a cave visible from the trail.

Hikers will also pass a man-made cave of cemented rock. How it got there is unclear. According to one story, it was used in filming the “Lone Ranger” television series. If you look down at the eastern fringe of Simi Valley, you can see the old Corriganville movie ranch and amusement park, where Westerns such as “Fort Apache” and “Gunsmoke” were filmed.

Don’t expect to find many shade trees along the trail. This is wide-open country. But the landscape is sprinkled with plants, many in bloom now, like the monkey flower, prickly phlox and California buckwheat. Here you’ll also spot patches of the endangered plant called Santa Susana tarweed, a prickly, fern-like bush with yellow flowers that is unique to this area.

The last half a mile is a steeper climb. As the road finally levels out, you’ll see an unmarked trail off to the right that leads to Rocky Peak. (If you start going downhill, you’ve gone too far. That route leads to the Chumash Trail.) The trail meanders about a quarter-mile out to a windy lookout above the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles. The slopes below look like boulder fields. On a clear day, you can catch a glimpse of Anacapa Island.

This is a good turnaround spot. Rocky Peak--identified by a splash of white paint atop a rocky promontory--is just a few minutes away, but the path to it is somewhat overgrown.

If you tackle the Rocky Peak Trail, expect company. Because it straddles the Los Angeles County line, it draws people from the Valley. And, because of the trail’s width, it attracts mountain bikers as well as hikers.

“It gets several hundred [visitors] on a weekend,” said Mike Kuhn, senior planner for Simi Valley and a member of the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers. The group, a volunteer arm of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, hikes this trail every Sunday evening.

The trail is part of Rocky Peak Park, 4,369 acres just north of Simi Valley in the Santa Susana Mountains. The land, formerly the Runkle Ranch, is actually owned by comedian Bob Hope. Since 1990, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has had an agreement with Hope to allow public use.

The beginning of the trail is only a few steps from the Simi Valley Freeway, near the top of historic Santa Susana Pass. Getting there is a little tricky, though. You need to exit the freeway at Kuehner Drive, go south and stay on it as it turns into Santa Susana Pass Road. Near the top of the pass, an overpass takes you right to the trail head.

A final word to hikers and bikers. The conservancy’s aim to keep the land in its natural state means that the park has no amenities such as restrooms, water, trash cans, picnic tables or telephones.

Details

* WHAT: Rocky Peak Trail.

* WHEN: Rancho Simi Trail Blazers lead a hike every Sunday beginning at 5 p.m. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has a docent-led hike scheduled June 17 from 9 a.m. to noon.

* WHERE: In Rocky Peak Park at the east end of Simi Valley.

* CALL: 520-1470 (Rancho Simi Trail Blazers); (800) 533-PARK.