TRAIL BLAZER: PACIFIC CREST TRAIL SITE DELIVERS.

Byline: Brett Pauly Outdoors Editor

It might not be the most picturesque the Angeles National Forest has to offer, and the modest elevation provides little solace from the heat, but if it's solitude you crave, look to the lonely outpost that is Liebre Mountain.

Accessed by a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Pacific Crest Trail marker on a back road that doesn't have much of an excuse for existing, the 9-mile hike gains nearly 2,000 feet of elevation up a dozen switchbacks through pine- and chaparral-lined Horse Camp Canyon. It's a striking eye-opener for anyone who thinks Los Angeles County is all glitz and glitter.

Noise is an afterthought. Expect infrequent bursts of wind and an occasional airplane, but the only other man-made sounds you'll hear are the crunch of wafflestompers hitting tinder-dry earth and the heavy breathing that comes with climbing a grade that is steep in places.

The route south from Pine Canyon Road in the forest's northwest sliver happens to be the first chronicled in John W. Robinson's preeminent guidebook ``Trails of the Angeles,'' but I guarantee the list is laid out according to geography and not order of preference. Still, the remote track has its qualities - a quaint pond favored by waterfowl, sporadic shade from black oak, digger pine and big-cone spruce, a surprising bounty of wildlife and an unrivaled northerly view of the Tehachapi Mountains and the extreme western reach of the Mojave Desert and its Antelope Valley.

Hikers might even liken the stretches toward the top to the Midwest. ``It's almost like prairie grass up there,'' said Rich Martin of Los Angeles, my hiking partner on this cloudless day and a former Minnesotan who knows something about prairies.

But this can be too good a thing, for the locale is drowning in foxtails, as evidenced by the 20 minutes it took me to get the grass' pointy seeds out of my socks and bootlaces.

Another inconsiderate part of the trail - ``where the Coast Ranges, the Tehachapis and the San Gabriels all meld together in a wrinkled jumble,'' Robinson writes - is that there really isn't a top. Like Sawmill Mountain and Sierra Pelona, its brethren to the southwest, Liebre (Spanish for hare) doesn't have a prominent apex. Instead, it is a lengthy hogback, or whaleback, that continually frustrates visitors with its many false summits.

``The hike is nice, but you don't get that peak-bagging sensation,'' Martin pointed out. We can't be certain that we actually reached the 5,759-foot high point, but even if we didn't, there wasn't much more altitude to be tackled.

From where the Pacific Crest Trail bisects Pine Canyon Road at an elevation of 3,845 feet, the track moves westerly past a marshy lake for nine-tenths of a mile to primitive Horse Trail Camp (3,980 feet). Here it picks up vintage Horse Trail, in an earlier day employed to drive horses from Tejon Ranch to Los Angeles. It is also here where the last segment of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada was blazed in 1993. Look for gnarled mountain mahogany, brightly hued thistle, a variety of birds and lizards and the antlered deer that bounded up the trail before us . . . oh, and the initial wave of those endless foxtails. At the first significant switchback (4,120 feet), look to the west for Quail Lake, a fishing haven that is nothing if not windy.

The grade picks up steadily for 2.5 miles from Horse Trail Camp, passing another dry camp featuring a picnic table, fire ring, grill and garbage can (4,923 feet) before reaching an uneven jeep track (5,140 feet).

The trail widens and it's not too far to the summit . . . or so you would think. Not.

This minirange goes on and on, never seeming to expose its crown. The course rolls over gentle, honey-chestnut hills until reaching a screeching halt to its unusual ride 1.1 miles ahead at a wire fence that is flagged by a sign pointing the way to further destinations.

Return whence you trod and enjoy the Tehachapi Mountains, which, on crystalline days, usher in their big brothers in the Sierra Nevada.

IF YOU'RE GOING ...

To reach the outset of the Pacific Crest Trail route to Liebre Mountain, drive north on the Golden State Freeway (5) and exit at Highway 138 west. Travel 4-1/2 miles and turn right onto County Highway N2 (Old Ridge Route). Drive another 2.3 miles and turn left onto the continuation of Highway N2 at Pine Canyon Road. From here, it's 5.1 miles to the PCT trailhead on the right side. Watch for the tiny marker after passing a water tank and a sign that reads ``Fire Restrictions.''

Allow at least four hours to complete the 9-mile hike. Visitors must purchase a National Forest Service Adventure Pass ($5 for day-use parking; $30 for the year) ahead of time. Information: Angeles National Forest, [phone].

Maps and guidebooks: Liebre Mountain 7.5-minute series topographic map; ``The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California'' and ``Trails of the Angeles,'' both published by Wilderness Press.

- Brett Pauly

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box, Map

Photo: (Color) With the Tehachapi Mountains as his backdrop, a trekker returns down the Pacific Crest Trail from Liebre Mountain with foxtails under.

Brett Pauly/Daily News

Box: IF YOU'RE GOING ... (See text)

Map: LIEBRE MOUNTAIN AND PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

Traci Wooden/Staff Artist