INMATES BUILD PATH TO SELF-ESTEEM ON MOUNTAIN TRAILS : TEEN OFFENDERS LABOR AWAY IN PEACEFUL SETTING.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

The wind was severe, the hike grueling and the task backbreaking. And none of the 12 teens blazing the trail across 2,000-foot mountains would be anywhere else.

Climbing single-file Friday morning up the treacherous path they had already cleared, the 16- to 18-year-old boys from Camp Scudder probation facility stopped to hack at more brush and hoe their new trail dreaming of the day they could hike it with their families.

``We really like to do this work,'' said 18-year-old Larry, finishing up a sentence for car burglary. ``Maybe we'll take our kids up here someday and they can see what we did.''

For about a month, the juvenile offenders from the county camp in Bouquet Canyon have returned to the Santa Susana Mountains to work on the trail. They follow the yellow ribbons tied earlier to the brush by parks officials, markers that climb steep grades then plunge before the next peak.

The crew is blazing a trail that will take hikers about a half-day to walk. The path begins about four miles off a fire road that starts in historic Mentryville in Pico Canyon, which will open to the public for the first time this summer. The path will cross about four miles and end in Towsley Canyon, traversing land recently purchased from Chevron Corp. by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. It's completion is expected some time this summer.

For many of the youths digging, hoeing, hacking and chopping, it is their first experience with standard tools. They credit instinct for their skill with an ax.

``I never used a rake before,'' said Emanuel, who, like the other youths, is identified by first name only because he is a minor. ``I've been too busy in the streets.''

Emanuel surveyed the perfect day. Wildflowers at their finest, hawks keeping watch far overhead, forget-me-not blue skies brushed with marshmallow clouds.

``I might come back to this place,'' he said.

Camp residents beg to make the trek to their trail for five hours of relentless labor, said Bob Casey, a juvenile crew instructor with the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

``They like it here because the day goes by faster. It's another day closer to going home,'' Casey said.

Exactly, said 17-year-old Christopher.

``It's a chance to get out of camp and a lot of us have never been in the mountains like this.''

Casey is ``Pops'' to his boys. He recounts the day a couple of his wards played a trick on the others, running down the trail shouting that a mountain lion had attacked Casey. Rather than turn and run, the unsuspecting youths ran to help their leader.

``These are my boys,'' said Casey, who commutes home to his wife in Idaho when his schedule permits. ``We bond out here. I'm proud of every one of them.''

Casey shouts directions to his team:

``Careful when you swing the ax.''

``Put your helmet there so it doesn't blow over the cliff like the other two.''

``Watch out for rattlesnakes.''

The wildlife is a diversion for these boys, some of whom are ex-gang members.

``They see a rabbit and it's a big deal,'' Casey said.

There's a certain danger in the work. Either side of some narrow sections drop hundreds of feet to deep canyons. The boys have trained to form a human chain should one member of the team lose his footing. So far, there've been no accidents.

The work has created a brotherhood among the boys - Latinos, African-Americans, Asians and whites, Casey said. While at camp, they tend to cluster by ethnic group, but out on the job they count on one another and friendships build.

``We kind of keep an eye on each other,'' Christopher said.

The responsibility and the knowledge that they are performing a public service builds self-esteem in the youth, said Edward Orozco, a junior crew instructor working with Casey.

``This is really good for the boys,'' he said. ``They're good kids who just need this kind of experience to let them know how valuable they are.''

The boys usually start before 9 a.m., traveling in vans on a steep dirt road to the work site. The hike in is led by two peers appointed crew chiefs. Holding the rear is tool man Joseph, 16, who carries a huge container of punch and a bag of paper cups. It was Joseph's task earlier to make sure lunches were prepared and the necessary tools packed. He considers his work on the crew experience to be included on a resume.

After a long, tough day, the boys head back to the vans weary but willing to return.

``I'll be driving back and suddenly it's quiet,'' Casey said. ``I check, and they've fallen asleep in the van.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--AV and SAC--color in SAC) Camp Scudder inmate s hike along the trail they are constructing.

(2--SAC only--color) Inmates say the work makes the days go by faster.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News