I’m about ready to give up on winter. Instead of thinking about a snowshoe hike here or a cross country ski jaunt there, I’m going to plan a camping and fishing trip.

I figure by getting my hopes up and plans made for a warmer weather pursuit I’ll trick the weathermakers and we’ll get some real winter weather.

So let’s see, where to start…

How about a camper show? There’s the 14th annual Down East Camping and Recreational Vehicle Show this Friday through Sunday at the Bangor Auditorium. And I’ve already made plans to take a few pointers on kayak rolls Tuesday at the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool. That should be sufficient to get a few snow showers started, no?

If you’d like to make more grandiose plans to ensure a good dumping of snow, why not head to the 33rd annual New England Camping and Recreational Vehicle Show at Bayside Exposition Center in Dorchester, Mass., which runs this week through Sunday.

Regardless of the weather, a great way to beat the winter blahs is to attend a show like one of these. The $3 admission for the Bangor show is a bargain and you get to step inside all those fancy rigs you may have wondered about. I think I’ve gone to most of the Bangor shows over the past 13 years, and I find it fun to spend a few hours poking around these new vehicles. I pick up as many brochures on new equipment as possible, yak with dealers about their latest offerings and fantasize about what it would be like to adopt the nomadic lifestyle of the RV’er.

(I have a confession to make. I own a popup tent trailer. I’ve had two during the past 15 years. Sometimes it’s a bother to tow a trailer, but there’s something to be said of the comfort it offers when you’re out for a week or two. They also make great extra bedrooms when your inlaws visit in the summer. And yes, I’d like very much to get into a more elaborate rig, buAnd yes, I’d like very much to get into a more elaborate rig, but it’s not going to happen.)

But the real reason I have gone to the show in the past several years is to pick up the latest brochures on Maine campgrounds, especially the award-winning Maine Camping Guide which lists more than 225 of the 300-plus commercial campgrounds in Maine, and what they offer. If your summer plans involve camping, this little guide is a must. It tells you whether a campground has water, electricity, cable television or sewer hookups, a dump station, a store, laundry, boating, fishing, on-site rentals, LP gas, whether pets are allowed, free hot showers, a pool etc.

If your family is like mine you probably have a favorite campground you get to each year, but then you want to do a little exploring. What other campgrounds are there in a particular area? What services do they offer? Grab the guide and check it out. We found a nice little campground in the Pemaquid area last summer and from there explored Damariscotta, Pemaquid Point, Boothbay Harbor and Popham Beach. We’re always looking at other campgrounds and comparing their offerings to our favorite campgrounds.

That’s where a show like this one comes in handy. It gives you new horizons, a chance to meet campground operators and see what they offer, sort of exploring the state and not leaving the city.

You’re not alone if your interests swing toward camping. Susan Benson, director of information and education for the Department of Conservation, said state figures for camping use at the 12 state parks which allow camping showed 214,648 people camped in 1998 compared to 202,160 in 1997. That’s an increase of 6.2 percent. Only Aroostook, Camden Hills and Rangeley Lake state parks showed decreases.

Up-to-date figures for private campground use are not available, according to Dan Billings, executive director fo the Maine Campground Owners Association. The most recent economic impact study done on camping in Maine was in 1991 when the figures showed $350 million was spent on camping or camping related expenses. There are 300-plus campgrounds in Maine and 25,000-plus sites. Last season the average occupancy rate was about 60 percent, with peak weekends closer to 100 percent. A third of the 25,000 sites are seasonally rented.

If you’re looking for a different way to look at Maine, one of this year’s off-beat attractions at the show will be an exhibit by SkySail, Inc., of Phillips, which offers lessons on powered parachuting, like paragliding only with a motor, for the Icarus in you. Instead of being held on by wax, though, your wing (a rectangular ram-air parachute) is firmly attached to a simple cart with a prop powered by a Rotax engine to push the machine forward, fill the chute with air, create lift and send you aloft – up in a parachute!

You’ve probably seen something similar done from the back of a speedboat. The flyer is tethered to the boat by a line and harness, the boat takes off, the ‘chute pulls the person upward. Only in the case of powered parachute flying, the motorized cart provides the pull. You’re then free to explore the skies.

The company is owned by Dave Stinchfield, 44, and Doug Lisherness, 50, who each have experience flying ultralight aircraft and who gave up other careers to teach powered-parachute piloting full time. They claim they can make you a flyer in several hours with the help of classroom instruction and a customized indoor training facility where you can train regardless of the weather. If defying gravity is your thing, check out SkySail at the show.

Stinchfield told me there’s really nothing like it. You cruise between 500 and 1,000 feet at 26-28 mph. The aircraft is very forgiving, he said, and should there be engine trouble you simply drift gently to the ground. Flights, which are usually taken early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the winds are lightest, average 1-2 hours so you’re not going to be a long way from home base. And while it may seem like a daring way to fly “it’s actually not extreme. This aircraft is docile in the way it flies,” Stinchfield said.

If earth-bound pleasures are more to your liking, there’ll be a good selection of 1999-model camping vehicles at the show for you to check out. At least seven recreational vehicle dealers from Maine will be on hand with enough stock to fill the 13,800 square-foot auditorium floor and spill into the 12,000 square foot civic center. As usual, said Mike Dyer, auditorium director, there will be campground owners and representatives, banks and show specials. Door prizes this year are a new popup camper and an eight-foot paddle boat.

Jeff Strout’s column is published Tuesday and Thursday. He can be reached at 990-8202.