Ventura County Weekend : JAUNTS : Walk Off the Stuffing on Holiday Hike : You can burn up some of those Thanksgiving Day calories during a trek along the scenic trails of Wildwood Park.

It’s Thanksgiving Day and your fate is sealed. You’ll stuff the turkey, then stuff yourself, and by Friday you’ll feel miserable with guilt.

But there’s a way out: The Conejo Recreation and Park District has two holiday hikes scheduled to help you work off the mashed potatoes and gravy.

Both are in Thousand Oaks’ Wildwood Park and led by district naturalist Jan Garges. The first one will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon; the second, Dec. 30, same time. The cost is $5 per car.

For adults only, both treks will be a moderately paced four-to-five-mile outing that will take in many of the sights in this urban oasis--1,600 acres of mountains, canyons, streams and grasslands.

Once you’re inside this park, you’ll forget how close it is to the city. Its rugged beauty will make you feel like you’ve been plunked down onto the film set of an old Western. In fact, Westerns were filmed here.

But of all the sights in Wildwood, perhaps the best is Paradise Falls. If you’re one of those who can’t resist a waterfall, you won’t be disappointed. This one sports a 40-foot cascade that flows year-round. Water streams over rocks into a pool at the bottom that is surrounded by cattails, reeds and other marshy growth.

A path climbs up the side of the waterfall, so hikers can get an up-close look at the stream from the cliffs. Because the waterfall is deep within Wildwood Canyon, the roar of water can be heard throughout much of the park.

“It’s beautiful,” said Garges, a grandmother who also leads hikes for the Sierra Club and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The water here may look clean and inviting--especially if it’s a warm day--but don’t be tempted to dip a toe or take a drink. It’s actually run-off from city streets that feeds the creek.

Garges will lead hikers along a series of connecting trails in the park, one of the most people-friendly hiking areas around. The trails are wide, well-groomed and carefully marked with signs. Hikers will even find restrooms and water fountains on the trail.

What they won’t find this time of year, though, are many wildflowers in bloom. The park is dressed in its winter browns, but there are a few spots of color, like the false cliff aster and mustard.

Garges said she’ll probably take her group over the Stagecoach Bluff Trail, a rocky route high up on a bluff with views to a huge grassy mesa on one side and Wildwood Canyon on the other.

One of her favorite spots in the park is Lizard Rock, an outcropping of rock that bears a resemblance to, what else, a lizard. It’s a favorite spot of hers for painting.

From here it’s easy to see why Wildwood was a choice location for filming Westerns. From the 1930s into the 1960s, it served as the backdrop for television shows such as “The Rifleman,” “Wagon Train” and “Gunsmoke.”

Ironically, Garges herself was in the movies back then. A budding dancer at the age of 5, she was in a movie with Shirley Temple, then she danced in several of the Bob Hope films.

Although she now teaches piano, she’s had other careers--a ballerina with the San Francisco Opera and a stint as a professional ice skater. But polio and back problems sidelined her. She took up hiking 13 years ago and found it relieved her pain.

Now she hits the trail constantly, and Wildwood is one her favorite places. On Saturday, she’ll lead the group through tree-shaded spots next to streams and up high on ridges where the view is spectacular. One of the best overlooks is from the so-called tepee, a large wooden rest area where hikers can sit down for a break.

The vast country must have been inviting to Native Americans who lived around here as long ago as 6,000 B.C. The Chumash Indians were here until the early 1800s. Shell beads, arrowheads, basket pieces and stone tools have turned up in the park.

Garges may wrap up the hikes by coming out of the canyon on the Indian Creek Trail. The route swings by a smaller waterfall and passes a series of signs installed six months ago by Eagle Scout James Peters to explain the plant and animal life.

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Post-holiday hikes, four to five miles.

* WHERE: Wildwood Park, at the end of Avenida de Los Arboles where it meets Big Sky Drive, Thousand Oaks. Meet in the parking lot.

* WHEN: Saturday and Dec. 30, 9 a.m. to noon.

* HOW MUCH: $5 per car.

* FYI: 494-8301. No pre-registration necessary.

* ETC: The hikes are for adults 18 years and older. Wear lug-soled shoes.