Valley Weekend : JAUNTS : Moonlit Walk Explores Chumash Ways, Land : Ranger will lead group on evening hike to learn about plants, games and stories from Native American heritage.

On Saturday at dusk, National Park Service Ranger Ted Stout will lead a group of flashlight-toting families into Chumash country at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa near Newbury Park.

As night falls, they’ll walk a short way into the park, watching for owls or coyotes, and learn from Stout how the Native Americans once lived--and played--in these mountains.

The two-hour evening program, offered free once a month, is a new one. It’s not only a chance to learn about the Chumash ways, but a rare opportunity to experience the park at night--free of hikers and bicyclists.

Of course, you will have company on this outing. Since the rangers began offering it in June, it’s been drawing an audience of 35 to 40 people, many of them families.

“We’ve had people with strollers,” Stout said.

The program starts at 6:30 p.m. with everyone gathering in the parking lot. You’ll walk a quarter mile over a dirt road into the park, just far enough to see the site’s rolling grasslands and the backdrop of majestic Boney Ridge.

This 838-acre park and nearby Sycamore Canyon, which leads to the ocean, once hummed with Chumash activity. The canyon was thought to be part of a trade and travel route once used by Native Americans. Satwiwa, which means bluffs, was the name of a Chumash village close by. It’s because of this heritage that a portion of the park has been designated as a Native American Natural Area.

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The walk takes you past the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center, located in a modest little tree-shaded ranch house. A new 1,200-square-foot center, nearing completion a stone’s throw away, is set to open this fall.

During the walk, Stout will point out native plants, like the purple sage and the black walnut. “I’ll talk about the ways the Chumash lived off the land,” he said. A major staple was the acorn, which they could use to bake bread or grind into a flavorless oatmeal-like mush. Another was the yucca, whose stalks they roasted.

Life wasn’t all survival, though. The Chumash believed in play too. Stout will draw the group into a circle under the stars to show members a few games, such as the one using walnut shells cut in half as dice. Teams score points based on whether the dice fall shell-side up or down. Another game involves sticks painted black or white and players guessing which color other players are holding.

“These are authentic Chumash games,” he said. “People really get into them.”

For the Chumash, the games were sometimes more than just fun, he explained. Occasionally they were played to resolve a conflict.

“If they argued over who shot a deer first, rather than fight about it, they would play a game as a peaceful way of resolving it,” Stout said.

The Chumash were very resourceful people, able to live wisely and comfortably off their environment, he said. As a result, they had time for games, stories, crafts and a rich culture.

“They originated the laid-back Southern California style,” Stout said.

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The Chumash lived in round, thatched homes called aps. On this outing, you’ll see one. It was built this past year by Kote Lotah, a Chumash leader who lives in Ventura. With help from volunteers, he used willow branches for the frame and tule for the walls, just as his ancestors did.

With the scent of burning sage in the air, the group will sit on tule mats in the ap and hear Stout relate Native American stories. One story tells how the Chumash, faced with dwindling resources, traveled from the Channel Islands to the mainland via “the rainbow bridge.” As the tale goes, those who looked down into the water on the crossing fell off, but they didn’t drown. They became dolphins, thus assuring a special bond with the Chumash.

When the program is over--before the walk back to the parking lot under the stars--you can browse through the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center, where rangers and Friends of Satwiwa put on regular Sunday events for free. In the center, visitors will see books and exhibits--even a tomol, a type of boat the Chumash built from redwood planks for ocean travel.

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Native American program; walk, games, stories.

* WHEN: Saturday, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

* WHERE: Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Potrero Road and Pinehill Street, Newbury Park.

* HOW MUCH: Free.

* CALL: (818) 597-9192.

* FYI: Bring a flashlight.