Show up at most Maryland state park campgrounds with nothing but a sleeping bag, and you're in for a cold, dark night. But at Swallow Falls State Park, the rangers will provide a tent, propane stove and lantern, help set them up and even light your campfire.

It's instant camping, available for a modest fee to novices and those who just don't want to buy or haul a lot of gear. In Maryland, the option is available only at Swallow Falls, the state's westernmost campground, on the Youghiogheny River a few miles from Deep Creek Lake.

Equipped campsites also are available in some national forests out West, according to Pat O'Brien, executive director of the National Forest Recreation Association. "It's pretty typical of the innovation going on as more people are going outdoors and looking to enjoy it without making a major commitment they can't justify in the long run," O'Brien says.

Susan Koch of Baltimore says she and her family enjoyed their first stay at an equipped campsite so much three years ago that they reserved all three such sites at Swallow Falls for themselves and two neighbor families for a July weekend last year.

"It was easy, it was all self-explanatory and it was nice when we were finished to pack up the car with all our loot and leave it all there. Not having to pack up a damp tent is a big part of it," Koch says.

The $30-a-night cost includes a six-person nylon tent, a Coleman stove and lantern, and the propane to run them. The 65-site campground features such modern conveniences as flush toilets, hot showers and dishwashing stations.

Park rangers offer free setup help and camping tips. For example: Don't store food on the ground (it attracts animals), and don't burn the lantern or stove inside the tent (it could catch fire). The most common questions from camping newbies concern fire, Ranger Tim McMillan says.

"They're afraid to light the propane stove and they want to know how to get a fire going," he says.

This is the eighth year for camper-ready campsites at Swallow Falls. In nearby Thurmont, Cunningham Falls State Park offers slightly less primitive accommodations: camper cabins, one-room buildings with electricity that sleep four. Next month, the number of available cabins will more than double, when Cunningham Falls opens an additional five such sites, bringing its total to nine. Across the state, camper cabins are so popular that Maryland's Department of Natural Resources has added them to six parks since last summer. By the end of July, 10 state parks will be home to more than 50 camper cabins, not including Patapsco Valley State Park, which hopes to have their six camper cabins up and running at some point this summer, according to Susan O'Brien, DNR spokeswoman.

Koch says her family tried camper cabins and prefers tents. "Those little cabins, they were fun, but we just felt like we were camping more when we were in tents," she says.

A plus for families

The Koches and other area families are part of the national trend toward exploring the great outdoors. Recent surveys show that nature-related trips represent the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry. Among the findings: Camping is Americans' favorite outdoor activity.

That is good news for families. "An outdoors adventure is one that eliminates television, computers, phones and Nintendo," says Mark Evans, co-owner of Texas River Expeditions. "People get back to each other with nothing between them. They start talking and interacting and playing. Then they can begin really enjoying one another."

In short, it brings out a family's better nature, and in the process makes everyone more sensitive to the fragility of the world around them.

"Everything along a trail is a wonderment to children, and parents need to nurture that excitement," says Joseph Cornell, a California naturalist who has traveled the world teaching educators how to give children a love of nature. "By providing youngsters with memorable close encounters with the natural world and sharing their own enthusiasm for other life forms, parents can instill a life-long sense of respect and appreciation for nature."

There are some caveats.

"If you're expecting room service in your tent, you won't be happy," says Evans, whose rafting trips frequently include camping novices. "If you expect to be waited on hand and foot, you won't like it. But if you want to have a new experience outdoors and have a little adventure with it, you'll enjoy yourself."

The most important maxim for the outdoors novice, according to Evans: "Go with an open mind."

Wilderness-bound

Before you and your family start yelling wilderness, ho, however, you need to ease into intimacy with nature, one step at a time.

If you have very young children, consider making your first camping experience a night in a tent in your backyard -- or in a friend's yard if you live in an apartment -- making believe you are in some exotic wilds. You can sleep under the stars knowing the house is there if anyone gets antsy or scared.

For your first real nature trip, book a cabin in a state park, with day hikes, canoe trips, and other outdoor excursions. These cabins usually have several bedrooms and kitchen facilities, including cooking equipment, plates and utensils; you may have to supply your own bedding. Next time, try a tent site to which you can drive so your car is always handy. When you get comfortable with that, consider a hike-in camping trip if your children are old enough to go the distance.

Make your outdoor adventure a group project -- not one where the parents do all the planning and work and the youngsters tag along. Shop together for food, hiking clothes and equipment -- fishing rods, hiking boots, sleeping bags, a tent -- and give each child a chore. Older children can help Mom or Dad set up the tent, make menus and lead campfire songs; younger tykes can gather kindling wood or spear hot dogs or marshmallows onto long sticks for the campfire.

Make sure your family is adequately equipped for the adventure -- canteens to keep each participant fully hydrated (alert children never to drink from streams, lakes or other untreated water sources), good walking shoes and socks to keep out thistles, a hat and suntan lotion to protect from harsh sun, bug spray if biting insects are a threat, and packets of high energy snacks, such as apples, individual-size juice boxes with straws, or gorp (a mix of chocolate pieces, raisins, nuts, coconut and dried fruit).

Advise your children to stay on designated trails and make a wide swath around any creatures in their path. Wading into bodies of water should be off-limits to very young children, except under careful adult supervision, and even older children should be told to steer clear of some waterways, such as sections of rivers where fast-moving rapids pose a danger.

Give each child a diary for recording the adventure (youngsters too young to write can draw pictures). Many of these diaries, available at camping stores and through children's mail-order catalogs, come with checklists of birds and wildlife and extra pages to affix photos from the trip. Provide each child old enough to hold one with a camera -- perhaps one of the single-use kind that most youngsters over 5 can operate -- so he can capture his own photographic memories.

Contributing writer Randi Kest and Sun wire services contributed to this article.

When you go ...

* Swallow Falls State Park: Take Interstate 70 west to Interstate 68 west and follow it through Cumberland. Exit at 14A onto U.S. Route 219 south and continue to Mayhew Inn Road; from there, follow signs for Swallow Falls.

The 65-site campground in Oakland has three instant-camp sites, and is equipped with flush toilets, hot showers and dishwashing stations. Price for instant campsite is $30 ht; otherwise $15 per weekend night or $11 per weekday night. Advance reservations, a good idea for weekend visits, cost $7. For information, call 301-387-6938 or visit www.dnr.state.md.us.; for reservations, call 888-432-CAMP.

Cunningham Falls State Park:

* From Thurmont, take Maryland 77 west three miles; go left on Catoctin Hollow Road and drive about a mile; the entrance to the park is on the right.

This 149-site campground has four camper cabins with five more opening next month. Each camper cabin sleeps four and has at least one electrical outlet. Prices: $35 per weekday night; $40 per weekend night. Noncamper site prices between Memorial Day and Labor Day: $13 per weekday night, $17 weekend nights and holidays. Electrical hookups are anadditional $5. For information, call 301-271-7574 or visit www.dnr.state.md.us.; for reservations, call 888-432-CAMP.

Other camper cabin sites

* Pocomoke River State Forest and Park (eight camper cabins): near Snow Hill, 410-632-2566

* Martinak State Park (four camper cabins): in Denton, 410-479-1619

* Smallwood State Park (four camper cabins): in Marbury, 301-743-7613

* Patapsco Valley State Park (six camper cabins to be in use by end of summer): Ellicott City, 410-461-5005

* Janes Island State Park (three camper cabins): Crisfield, 410-968-1565

* Elk Neck State Park (six camper cabins): North East, 410-287-5333

* Rocky Gap State Park (10 camper cabins): Flintstone, 301-777-2139

* Gunpowder Falls State Park (two camper cabins): Chase, 410-592-2897

* Deep Creek Lake Recreation Area (two camper cabins): Swanton, 301-387-4111

* Gambrill State Park (four camper cabins to be in use by end of July): Frederick, 301-271-7574

-- Randi Kest

Books for planning a family nature adventure

* "Family Adventure Guides" (Globe Pequot Press, $9.95 to $11.95). New state-by-state series, with 25 states so far.

* "Great Nature Vacations with Your Kids" ($9.95) and "Great Adventure Vacations with Your Kids" ($11.95) both by Dorothy Jordon, World Leisure Corp.; 800-444-2524 to order.

* "Sierra Club Family Outdoors Guide," by Marilyn Doan (Sierra Club Books, $12)

* "Sharing Nature With Children" ($7.95), "Sharing the Joy of Nature" ($9.95), "Listening to Nature" ($13.95), and "Journey to the Heart of Nature" ($9.95), all by Joseph Cornell, Dawn Publications; 800-545-7475.

* "Family Camping Made Simple: Tent and RV Camping with Children," by Beverly Liston (Globe Pequot Press, $12.95).

* "Rodale's Guide to Family Camping," $3.95. Annual magazine chock-full of tips for spring and summer trips. Available at outdoor stores and bookstores. For a nearby store, call 800-480-1110.

-- Judi Dash

Best outdoor adventures for different age groups

* Infants and toddlers: Simple park and seashore excursions with more sensory experience than actual moving around (a fully equipped cabin or condo is ideal). Watching little sand crabs and shore birds dart between the ocean and the beach or seeing tiny fish swim among plants in a pond can fascinate a very young child, and, when crankiness sets in, you can return to the car or house.

* Elementary-school age: Stays in state park cabins, with short canoe excursions (make sure everyone wears a life preserver) and bicycle rides along well-maintained bike routes away from motor vehicle traffic. Weekend tented camping trips, fishing excursions, easy snorkeling.

* Preteens: Rafting excursions, overnight canoe trips and camping in state and national parks, archaeological digs, fishing trips, easy snorkeling .

* Teen-agers: The more adventure the better: Multiday whitewater raft or canoe trips, Outward-bound-style supervised wilderness encounters, bird-watching outings, hike-in camping, overnight horseback riding trips, snorkeling, sailing and wind-surfing adventures.

-- Judi Dash

Making nature fun for young children

California naturalist Joseph Cornell has spent many years developing games that teach nature lessons through discovery rather than by reeling off facts and figures. Here are his favorite projects any parent can follow:

* Meet a tree: Blindfold a child and gently walk her over to an interesting tree (with no poison ivy) set among others. Encourage her to explore the tree in all its uniqueness, hugging it to feel its girth and smell, feeling the leaves to discover its shape and texture. Then walk her back several yards, remove the blindfold, and invite her to find "her" tree, giving plenty of hints (for example: "Didn't you say the tree was really fat and that the leaves were pointy?") Through this game the tree becomes unique instead of just another piece of wood in a big forest.

"I've seen children ask to go back and visit their tree at a later date," says Cornell, who notes that this new-found personal relationship with a part of nature makes children sensitive to each living thing's importance and the terrible loss when a piece of nature is destroyed through neglect or abuse.

* Explore an un-nature trail: Along a short stretch of clearly defined nature trail, set out objects that do not belong in the wilds -- such as a rubber band, a plastic bottle, a sock, a soda can, a stick of gum. Camouflage some of the objects with leaves or dirt, and have your children see how many of the un-nature things they can discover. This game helps children become more observant of nature's "home," making them aware of how littering violates that place. During future outings, your children will likely to be more careful about correctly discarding trash; you might even have them make a practice of picking up other people's refuge and putting it into a big "bag of shame."

* Sunset watch: About 15 minutes before sunset, make a game of enumerating events that happen at this time of day, with the children calling out or pointing to each phenomenon as it happens. Some examples: shadows get longer, day-birds grow quiet, night insects start buzzing, the moon and first stars come out, the temperature cools. As darkness descends, have children turn on their flashlights and see what comes into the light, then turn them off and sit quietly, noticing the new sounds and smells. This is a good time to talk about nocturnal animals and to discuss how all living things have active and rest periods -- which makes children sensitive to other species' survival needs.

-- Judi Dash