HIKING ENTHUSIAST A TRUE TRAILBLAZER.

Byline: Victoria Giraud People and places

Lisa Klockenteger has been blazing trails since her childhood in Simi Valley.

``I've been hiking since I was old enough to walk,'' said Lisa, president of the Rancho Simi Trailblazers. ``My family was outdoors people.''

The family, including grandparents (all California natives), moved to Simi Valley in the 1960s, and family friends teased that they were moving to the boondocks.

``It was really pretty then,'' Lisa recalled. ``I think Simi has kept its small-town feel because of its physical geology. It's unique, a diamond in the rough. There are no encroaching cities.''

Although Lisa moved away from Simi, she always kept her interest in nature. In the late 1980s, she and her husband toured the United States in a motor home and got involved volunteering in places like Alaska during the Valdez oil spill.

When they decided to move back to be close to Lisa's aging grandparents, she saw a newspaper ad asking for volunteers to become involved with the hills. ``I wanted a taste of the country. That's why I came back.''

Answering the ad, Lisa was one of the founders of the Trailblazers five years ago and has held all the offices since, ``so I can help keep it going in the right direction.''

Affiliated with and sanctioned by the Rancho Simi Park and Recreation District, the group's main function is to promote trail usage, educate the public on trail use, maintain eight miles of existing trails and cut new trails. Trails are not just for hiking but can be used by mountain bikes and horses.

The main trails are the Chumash and Hummingbird trails, in the northeast corner of the valley, and the Stagecoach Trail - ``a nice little hike in the spring and summer'' - which dead-ends at the Santa Susana Pass.

One of the group's goals is to connect Simi Valley with the San Fernando Valley using the Stagecoach Trail, which was once the actual stagecoach route from Chatsworth into Simi Valley. Lisa said that the old trail was bumpy and challenging, like an old E-ticket ride at Disneyland. Because of government red tape and the fact that the trail goes between two counties and across private property, the dream is a long way off.

The Trailblazers have also cut a trail up to the cross on Mount McCoy, in the west end of the valley. The cross marks a historic spot. The original one went up in the 1800s, and the current cross has been there about 40 years.

There's a technique to blazing trails, and the emphasis is on making them environmentally friendly. They are cut by hand with the same tools used by firefighters in the brush. Vegetation that is cut is not removed but tucked under existing vegetation to be used as mulch.

``Cutting of trails protects the hills from a multiple of little trails,'' Lisa said. ``We make them so they have a natural runoff.

She said that you can't see the trails unless you are close to them.

On the third Saturday of every month, the Trailblazers and their families meet at one of the trails and work about four or five hours on its maintenance. ``Our priority is to keep the trails as safe as possible with the rain. We'll be working a lot this spring.''

The group is anticipating California Trail Days on April 25-26, an event that is held by clubs all over California. In Simi Valley, they will work on the Hummingbird Trail on that Saturday and follow it up with a nature walk the next day.

Besides trail maintenance, the group sponsors three hikes a week year-round. Evening hikes are held on Thursday and Sunday in Simi Valley, and there's a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains as well. For information on the hikes or membership, call Lisa at [phone].

When she isn't involved with Trailblazers, Lisa makes her living as a dental hygienist and teaches and lectures for a dental products company.

Lisa believes that trailblazing is a healthy thing to do at any age and pointed out that the median age of the core group of about 27 people is 55.

``I want to see our group double in size in the next couple of years so we don't burn out the people we have. It would be great to add another 10 miles of trail,'' she said.