SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS `IS THIS PARADISE OR WHAT?' PARK OFFERS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

You're overworked, underpaid, worried about world affairs and eager to get away from crowds, bumper-to-bumper traffic and the digital world.

So, Gary Wolfe has a golden retreat right in his back yard: the sprawling Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the world's largest urban park.

``It's fantastic,'' said Wolfe, 35, a mountain bicyclist from Oak Park in Ventura County who hits the hills each day after work for some serious uphill riding and downhill skedaddling.

``The Santa Monicas, in my opinion, have something for everybody,'' he said. ``... We do say, Is this paradise or what?''

Stretching 46 miles from the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles County to Point Mugu in Ventura County, the 150,000-acre park offers some of the best hiking, biking, surfing and horse-riding fun in Southern California.

Pristine beaches, fantastic whale-watching views, cool swimming holes, seemingly endless hiking and biking trails, rare wildlife, abundant wildflowers, historic Indian sites and movie sets are all just minutes from the San Fernando Valley off scenic Mulholland Highway.

``We offer the park as a landscape for the imagination,'' said Judy Joy Lively, a National Park Service ranger in charge of interpretation at Paramount Movie Ranch and other sites.

``Any recreation or interest you have, you can run off to the Santa Monicas.''

But if you do, beware of snakes, poison oak - and pesky wildlife.

Thirteen-year-old Robbie Krattiger took a recent dip with his brothers at Malibu Creek State Park and lost his shirt.

``It's pretty cool,'' he said of the Santa Monicas. ``My uncle takes us there. We go hunting for lizards and stuff - sand lizards and alligator lizards. We stashed our shirts in a tree, and mine was stolen by a raccoon.''

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is shared by 70 government agencies, including the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Despite the hazards, one of the best features about much of the park is its lack of crowds, park officials and visitors say. To date this year, there have been 369,000 visitors to the federal portion of the park - a tiny fraction of the combined population of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The entire recreation area attracts about 34 million visits each year, according to officials - most of them to its beaches.

Wolfe can go on a bike ride with his daughters, 4 and 7, and the three rarely see anyone else. On a clear day from some spots, he can see Simi Valley and Catalina Island.

``The Santa Monica Mountains are a jewel,'' he said. ``Where else can you live that has a huge city and get out to all these places in 20 minutes?''

For information about federal recreation area maps and programs, call the National Park Service Visitor Center at [phone] or see its Web site at www.nps.gov/samo/. For state parks programs, call [phone].

Maps are also available at the National Park Service Visitor Center at 401 W. Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks.

For some great fall getaways, don't miss some of the following sites:

--For miles of challenging mountain biking trails, visit Cheseboro and Palo Comado canyons. Take Highway 101 to the Cheesebro Road exit in Agoura Hills. Turn north on Palo Comado Canyon Road, then right on Cheesebro Road. Go north one mile to park entrance.

--For the Sooky Goldman Nature Center - and opening-scene set of the ``Andy Griffith Show'' - visit Franklin Canyon Ranch. From Highway 101 in Studio City, turn south on Coldwater Canyon Avenue, turn right on Franklin Canyon Drive and turn left at William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom. For the ranch, continue and turn left on Lake Drive.

--For a refreshing swimming hole, visit Malibu Creek State Park. Take Highway 101 to Calabasas, turn south on Las Virgenes Road. The park entrance is one-fourth mile south of Mulholland Drive on Malibu Canyon Road.

--For movie-making history, visit Paramount Ranch. Take Highway 101, turn south on Kanan Road in Agoura Hills, turn left on Cornell Way and go 2 1/2 miles to the park entrance on the right.

--For a hike to the highest vantage point in the park, go to Circle X Ranch. Take the Pacific Coast Highway to Yerba Buena Road and turn inland 5.4 miles to the ranch entrance. The trailhead is one mile north on Yerba Buena Road.

--For stories and performances by American Indians, go to the Satwiwa Indian Cultural Center at Rancho Sierra Vista. Take Highway 101 and go south on Lynn Road to Via Goleta. The park entrance is on left.

--For great ocean views, go to the Charmlee Natural Area. Take the Pacific Coast Highway just south of the Ventura County line, turn inland on Encinal Canyon Road and go four miles to the park entrance.

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Gary Wolfe, above, rides his mountain bike into the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

(2 -- 4 -- color) Park Ranger Judy Joy Lively, far left, tosses fake snow while she describes movie-making history at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Away from the crowds, a 100-foot waterfall flows through Sycamore Canyon in the 150,000-acre recreation area including both state and federal lands, with scenery for all tastes. At far right, Tyler Kemp, 16, of Thousand Oaks climbs the Planet of the Apes Wall near Malibu Creek.

(5 -- color) Tommy Krattiger, 7, of Mission Hills swings from a rope at a swimming hole at Malibu Creek. The ``Andy Griffith Show'' fishing hole is also in the recreation area.

(6 -- color) Mounted volunteers Susan Young, left, and Stacey Goldstein enjoy the scenery as they patrol a trail in Topanga State Park.

(7 -- 8 -- color) WATCH OUT

Park users should be wary of rattlesnakes and poison oak.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

Map:

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA