Ventura County Weekend : JAUNTS : New Hummingbird Creek Trail Is Group’s Labor of Love : The hiking path, cleared by Rancho Simi Trail Blazers, opens this weekend.

It’s taken gritty hard work, blisters and sweat, but it’s done. The new Hummingbird Creek Trail at the eastern edge of Simi Valley is officially finished and open for hikers this weekend.

Volunteer crews bushwhacked, graded and groomed the remaining stretches of the 2.5-mile trail last weekend. So now you can take it from the trail head just north of the Simi Valley Freeway and Kuehner Drive all the way to where it hooks into Rocky Peak Trail.

You can thank the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers for this trek into the Santa Susana Mountains overlooking Simi Valley. The volunteer group cut the upper section of the trail this year, adding to the work done two years ago along Hummingbird Creek by a grass-roots community group.

It’s an amazing feat considering work crews, including two Boy Scout troops, used virtually no mechanical equipment. Instead, they carved out the route with shovels, picks, hoes and rakes.

“It was just muscle power,” said Michael Kuhn, chairman of the group and a senior planner for the city. Because of the terrain, they couldn’t use any heavy equipment. Nor would there have been any money for it anyway.

“We’re a bargain,” Kuhn said. The group formed officially 2 1/2 years ago when the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, strapped for money to maintain and build trails, appealed to the community for help.

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Now 45 members strong, the group not only works trails but leads hikes in the Simi Valley area. Although the group has done one other shorter trail, the Hummingbird Creek Trail is its showpiece.

It starts off to the side of Kuehner Drive, about one-third mile north of the Simi Valley Freeway. It drops down and follows Hummingbird Creek almost to the highway. The creek has some water rushing year-round.

Near the highway you’ll hop over the creek--it’s just a trickle here--then start the climb toward Rocky Peak.

As you climb, you’ll see enormous sandstone rock formations, carved 60 million years ago.

About a third of the way up, the trail winds past a cave big enough for a large group to gather in. Here the trail winds through rocky crevices, under rock overhangs, and over gigantic slabs of rock.

As the trail climbs, you’ll find few shady spots. But the landscape is sprinkled with plants like the laurel sumac, bush mallow and rare Santa Susana tar plant.

The wide smooth trail rises 1,100 feet in elevation giving hikers (and mountain bikers) dramatic views of Simi Valley and the Santa Susana Mountains.

If you want to go on to the top of Rocky Peak, turn left at the trail junction. If not, go right 0.8 mile and you’ll be down at the trail head for Rocky Peak and a parking area.

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Hummingbird Creek Trail.

* WHERE: Lower trail head off Kuehner Drive, one-third mile north of the Simi Valley Freeway in Simi Valley. Look for the kiosk.

* INFO: For information about the trail or the Simi Valley Trail Blazers, call 584-4400. Sharon Hamilton is the volunteer coordinator.