STRAWBERRY TRAILS FOREVER; HERE'S A TREK THAT WILL WORK OFF ALL THE TURKEY.

Byline: BRETT PAULY / Outdoors

So, you've single-handedly redefined the word stuffing, have you? Was that fourth helping of mashed potatoes responsible for popping the button on your shirt?

Worse, you're feeling tired from all the tryptophan in the turkey. Don't just sit there; take a trip to the forest - the Angeles National Forest - and put on your hiking shoes.

It doesn't matter where you tread, just as long as you get off your duff sometime this holiday weekend and trek off that gravy.

If you're having trouble picking a place, I've got just the ticket: a 9.5-mile walk with just enough elevation gain - nearly, 1,200 feet - to keep you on your toes and enough glimpses of wilderness to make you forget work, which is supposed to be the intent of holidays. The route covers the Strawberry Peak and Colby Canyon trails and is punctuated by the enchanted backside of Strawberry Peak, a verdant expanse of oak and pine rising from the silhouette of the 6,164-foot mountain.

It's a spot so dark and secluded that even an imagination on a tight leash can conjure up images of Alpine settings far away from the metropolis - and that basting pan in your kitchen longing for attention from a scrub brush. But it's no walk in the park to get there; the best destinations rarely are. You'll certainly get no complaints from your waistline, but, by day's end, your tootsies might well be complaining.

Here we go:

From Red Box Ranger Station on Angeles Crest Highway, at the base of the road to Mount Wilson (elevation: 4,675 feet), Strawberry Peak Trail starts across the pavement and parallels the highway as it climbs northeast over a fire road. A half-mile in, the track breaks from the dirt roadbed and bears left through an oak forest, which soon yields the first view of 5,957-foot Mount Lawlor to the north.

After another half-mile, visitors are greeted by a post (5,075 feet) at a crossing that reads simply ``trail'' and offers an arrow in the correct direction. A lookout from an unnamed bluff is found to the left; Lawlor's ridge route is to the right.

From here, traverse the northwest contours around Lawlor, passing the journey's high point, 5,275 feet, where Strawberry Peak - the highest of the San Gabriel Mountains' front range and its only one to offer more than a mere stroll to the summit - first comes into sight.

According to John W. Robinson's invaluable guidebook ``Trails of the Angeles,'' the peak got its moniker from the ``wags at Switzer's Camp back in the 1880s who fancied a resemblance to a strawberry standing on its stem.'' Something to ponder before reaching a saddle (5,250 feet) between Lawlor and Strawberry's southeast flank at the 2.3-mile mark.

At this point, the more adventurous can ascend more than 900 feet in three-quarters of a mile over an inconspicuous trail accented by prickly brush and boulders to Strawberry's zenith and then cautiously down the precipitous climbers' path to Josephine Saddle and out to the highway via Colby Canyon Trail.

But then they miss the meadow and the impressive cliff on the north side of the peak. Besides, that turkey in your tummy might preclude such endeavors; best to keep to the long route, proceeding 1.8 miles farther north on Strawberry Peak Trail proper to the northeasternmost junction with Colby Canyon Trail (4,425 feet). During this stretch, visitors pass Strawberry Spring and a series of tremendous easterly vantages of the San Gabriels' high country, but the best segment lies ahead.

Follow the juncture's sign to Strawberry Potrero (not the marker to Colby Ranch) and march southwest into Strawberry Meadow, which, according to Robinson, is a series of three small meadows that have highlights - bundles of grasses, scrub oak, manzanita, snow brush, mountain mahogany and a forest of widely spaced live oak, big-cone spruce and Jeffrey and Coulter pine, along with acres of their respective acorns, needles and cones.

The damp sweetness is an olfactory delight. Visually stimulating is Strawberry Peak's tremendous granite north face, which eclipses the region and has spit tons of boulders that now dot the lower landscape. The region is presumably rarely visited and the notion that civilization has been left far behind is equally appealing. Thanksgiving leftovers can be served on a picnic table that abuts a tall conifer.

From Strawberry Peak Trail, it's 3.2 miles and a gain of 575 feet to Josephine Saddle (5,000 feet), where you'll meet the climbers who bagged Strawberry's summit.

During this length of trail, you will spot Mount Baldy to the east. It was at this locale my hiking partner and I toasted with an Oranjeboom Premium Lager, which never tasted so good. I can honestly say that because it was the first time I'd ever sipped Oranjeboom, a mediocre Dutch brew ``since 1671.'' You'd think that by, say, the 18th century the beer makers would have figured out that it's just not that good. Or perhaps its tepidness was tainting my appreciation. Here, too, you will spy layers of ridges that make up the San Gabriel chain. It's a pity they are scarred by so many fire roads. You can almost fake yourself into thinking they are striations, except that there's no rock to striate.

From Josephine Saddle, it's a 1,475-foot drop in 2.2 miles to Colby Canyon Trailhead. En route walkers cover eight switchbacks to a plateau and four more zigzags before reaching Colby Canyon's drainage (3,935 feet). Along the way, watch out for the shish-kebabing qualities of the yucca spines that line the route; they drew blood on my hands no less than three times.

Shortly after the waterway, you will have a direct overhead view of its docile pools from a steep cut in the rock that holds the trail. Another eight switchbacks and three more creek crossings and you're at the highway (3,525 feet). You'll know you're getting close by the increase in graffiti on the rocks and trees. Welcome back to the real world.

IF YOU`RE GOING

This is a shuttle trip, requiring two vehicles. Drive both rigs up Angeles Crest Highway (2) 10 miles from its start in La Canada Flintridge to the Colby Canyon Trailhead, located at the first turnoff to the left past the intersection of Angeles Forest Highway. Drop one car here, at trail's end.

Stash all the gear and hikers in the second car and motor another 3.8 miles to the closed Red Box Ranger Station, at the intersection of Red Box-Mount Wilson Road. Park car No. 2 here. Strawberry Peak Trail commences across the highway, on the north side.

To be legally parked in the Angeles National Forest, a car must have a National Forest Adventure Pass displayed. The daily fee is $5 and the permit can be purchased at the forest's Clear Creek Visitors Station, at the intersection of the Angeles Forest Highway.

The Strawberry Peak and Colby Canyon trails are found on the Chilao Flat and Condor Peak 7.5-minute series topographic maps. Allow seven hours to complete the 9-1/2-mile route. Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Map, Box

PHOTO (1--color) A trekker rests atop an outcropping west of Strawberry Peak, as the San Gabriel Mountains loom in the background.

(2) The vantage from Strawberry Spring looking east past Wickiup Canyon to an unnamed ridge.

Brett Pauly / Daily News

MAP: (color) COLBY CANYON AND STRAWBERRY PEAK TRAILS

Dionisio Munoz / Daily News

BOX: IF YOU`RE GOING (see text)