FOR THE KIDS / WILDWOOD PARK : Moonlight Trek : Each month, families are led on two-hour sunset hikes nearly a mile into the canyon.

Waiting for the sunset hike to begin, we swatted flies and tested our flashlights. It was billed as a family outing, a stroll into the 1,700-acre Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks, and about 60 people had shown up.

There were children everywhere. The youngest was a 4-month-old baby nestled in a carrier worn by his mother. Those too young to walk nearly a mile into the canyon were poised in backpacks and atop shoulders of parents, and one even in a stroller.

The Conejo Recreation and Park District sponsors the two-hour family outings once a month. The high point, for the kids anyway, is when the youngsters roast marshmallows over a campfire and squish them between graham crackers with a slab of chocolate--that venerable concoction known as s’mores . Hence the hike’s name, Saturday Night S’Mores.

The sky had a salmon tint when we left the trail head at Avenida de Los Arboles and Big Sky Drive about 7:15 p.m. The group split in two to take different routes to the park’s nature center. Our group’s guide was Tom Hoegeman, an affable outdoor recreation leader for the district.

He gave the usual warning: Don’t pick flowers, take rocks or disturb animals. We started down the trail that followed a ridgeline for a spectacular view overlooking the canyon. It was hard to believe that anything so vast and so rugged had been preserved here, a couple of miles from the Ventura Freeway.

This is where several movies were shot from the 1930s through the 1960s--among them “Wuthering Heights” and “Sands of Iwo Jima.” Even some television shows--”Wagon Train,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Rifleman.” Film production crews still use the park.

The recreation and park district bought most of the park in 1966 as residential development crept nearer. Wildwood Mesa was added in 1987.

We could hear frogs croaking and crickets calling as we trekked deeper into the canyon. Huge, sprawling oaks canopied the trail in places. The hillside was dotted with cacti. Tom pointed out the poison oak (leaves of three, let it be), and, even as the group wended its way through jungle-thick foliage, one mother admonished: “Don’t touch a thing!”

We walked single-file down the easily navigable trail. Easy, that is, unless you’re David Lockwood of Thousand Oaks, pushing his 15-month-old daughter, Madeline, in a stroller. At one point, he carried the stroller over a steep spot in the trail. “She’s a wiggle-worm,” he said. “It’s better to have her in that.”

Deep in the canyon we crossed a stream and looked up to see water splashing down the rocks. Elsewhere in the park there is a 55-foot cascade called Paradise Falls. It was about here that it started. “When do we eat?,” asked Erika Deems, 6, of Newbury Park. Then others followed. But the sighting of a cottontail rabbit, some bats and a pair of mallard ducks diverted them.

After about 25 minutes the two hiking groups converged at the nature center, which is equipped with rest rooms, shelter, benches and water. While one of the crew members stoked the campfire, Tom led the group in a song about Harry and the Army--you know the kind, where you touch you hair, arm, etc. He told a beautiful Indian tale about how the little hummingbird poked holes in the night sky to let the stars shine in.

Using wooden shish kebab sticks, the kids roasted marshmallows and stuffed themselves with chocolate, marshmallows and graham cracker goo. Some just did straight marshmallows. Parents sipped hot chocolate, coffee and tea.

The night sky was clear and filled with stars. We wondered what the trail of moving flashlights in the vast darkness of the park would look like to pilots.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Conejo Recreation and Park District sponsors Saturday Night S’Mores, a two-hour outing into Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks, the fourth Saturday of each month, year-round. Next hike is May 23, beginning at 7 p.m. Cost is $2. For reservations and information, call, 499-4355.