OUTPOST.

Byline: Daily News

New trail opens: After being off-limits to mountain bicyclists for seven years, a narrow, 7-mile section of the Backbone Trail reopened to the fat-tire crowd Wednesday.

The single-track portion from Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades to Topanga State Park closed to bikers in 1989 for fear that its steep drop-offs, particularly along the first 2 miles, posed a hazard to riders.

A dangerous section of the trail was repaired, and, in an effort to designate more of its trails as multi-use routes, the state Department of Parks and Recreation reopened the route to bikers. It is already used by hikers and equestrians.

The 70-mile Backbone Trail stretches from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu State Park along the rugged ridges of the Santa Monica Mountains.

For further details, call the Topanga sector of the parks department's Angeles District at [phone].

Stretch your bow: The Conejo Valley Archers are hosting their annual target-shooting contest, Pacific Coast 3-D Adventure, on Sunday at their range in Camarillo.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.; the shoot starts at 9 a.m. Entry fees range from $6 for children to $25 for families.

To reach the event, drive north on the Ventura Freeway (101), exit at Pleasant Valley Road/Santa Rosa Road and turn left. Turn left at Lewis Road and follow signs to the site.

Information: [phone], [phone] or [phone].

Overheard: "I think I'm filling a niche no one else has touched. That of the 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. worm."

- Vend-A-Worm inventor Tom Sziszak, on his machine that sells a cup of 25 fishing worms for $1, as quoted in Newsweek.

Bust poachers: The public can do its part to preserve fish and game in the new year by turning in poachers and polluters to CalTIP, or Californians Turn In Poachers, a toll-free hot line - [phone] - operated by the Department of Fish and Game.

Officials ask that when reporting any wrongdoing to note what you saw, when and where the violation took place and give a description of the culprit, the car and the license plate number. Violations can result in fines of up to $1,000 and a year in jail.

The hot line, which operates 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, is confidential and callers will never have to testify.

Hike art: High-elevation recreation gear has been elevated to high art ... by no less an authority than the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The museum's exhibit "Wild Design: Designs for the Wild," which runs through April 21, features everything from single-burner backpacker's stoves and sophisticated ice axes to four-season tents and space-age materials such as Gore-Tex and Polartec.

"Here technology goes wild, and design engineers its way back to nature," the museum's newsletter notes. "'Wild Design' will show how these objects create visible connections between the human body and the surrounding landscape."

And we thought the stuff just kept you warm and dry.

Ski report: Bear Mountain - hard-packed 12- to 24-inch base, 15 trails, six lifts, 41 percent open; Mountain High - machine-groomed snow, 6 lifts; Snow Summit - hard-packed 8- to 18-inch base, 11 lifts; Snow Valley - hard-packed 10- to 24-inch base, four lifts; Alpine Meadows - 4 to 6 inches new-packed powder, 26- to 50-inch base, 10 lifts; Bear Valley - 5 inches new-packed powder, 22- to 39-inch base, seven lifts, 70 percent open; Heavenly - 12 to 16 inches new-packed powder, 16- to 42-inch base, 15 lifts, 70 percent open; Kirkwood - 10 to 18 inches new-packed powder, 24- to 56-inch base, 11 lifts, 100 percent open; Mammoth Mountain - 3 inches new powder, 36- to 60-inch base, 13 lifts; Northstar-at-Tahoe: 11 inches new-packed powder, 13- to 39-inch base, six lifts, 39 percent open; Squaw Valley USA - 2 to 8 inches new powder, 14- to 50-inch base, 12 lifts.

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