Summer camping is great. Warm water, long days, nights where you can sit outside in as few clothes as you want till midnight — there's a reason it's the season everybody thinks of first, and it's a season I love too, and some of my favorite nights at this place happened in July. But fall ... Is its own thing, and it's not a lesser version of summer, it's a different game entirely. The bugs are gone, the woods go quiet in that specific way they only get once the leaves start c

I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. If you know anything about that organization you already have some sense of what that means, but let me be specific about the part that's relevant here. The elders of that faith were obsessed, and I don't think that's too strong a word, with the sexual behavior of their members. Not just whether you were gay or straight, though being gay was absolutely unacceptable and not open for discussion. They went further than that. They had opinions

Ageism is real in the gay community. Guys hit fifty, sixty, seventy and start to feel invisible — passed over on the apps, aged out of the party, treated like they're tolerated instead of wanted. So it's worth slowing down and talking about who these men actually are, and what we owe them. They fought for the right to exist openly, and then the ground opened up under them For most of American history, being openly gay wasn't a lifestyle choice, it was a legal and social risk.

One Saturday afternoon last summer, two members were headed back to the lodge after hauling firewood out to their site. One of them was riding in the wagon we keep around for hauling wood, a grown man, glass of red wine in hand, and the other, was flat out running while pulling him. Just before they made it to the lodge, the wagon tipped. He went flying, wine and all. Everyone within earshot was laughing, except the guy who'd been pulling, who was now staring down at a wagon

For everyone who couldn't make it to Saturday's general meeting, here's a straightforward recap of what we covered. What TPL Social Club Actually Is Before getting into the recap, it's worth pausing on this, because we know it still confuses people. TPL Social Club is a separate Maine nonprofit, distinct from the lodge itself. Its whole purpose is to preserve and support the culture, the facilities, the wilderness, and the community of Twin Ponds Lodge. It's the thing that fu

This past weekend, July 17th - 19th, was Anniversary Weekend, which means TPL Social Club just turned four. Four years since Roberto and I took this place over, four years since the inception of TPL Social Club, four years of building something with all of you. Between hosting the meeting, running the Twin Ponds Lodge Awards, and organizing and cataloging all the donations for the silent auction, in addition to doing all the regular day to day tasks it takes to run this place

Good. That means you're paying attention. Gay clothing optional campgrounds are genuinely different from most places you've probably been. They're adult spaces, they're openly gay, and many of them — including Twin Ponds Lodge — have areas with a bathhouse vibe that they're honest about. If you read that and felt a little flutter of anxiety about visiting a nudist campground for the first time, you're not alone and you're not wrong for feeling it. What I want to tell you — an

When we bought Twin Ponds Lodge in 2022, booking a stay here was an adventure, and not necessarily the fun kind. There was no online booking system. If you wanted to make a reservation you called us or sent an email, and then we manually entered everything on our end and hoped you showed up. In year two we got clever enough to send invoices by email so we could at least collect a deposit, but the whole process still ran through post-it notes and good intentions. Every reserva

Whatever a gay campground costs, it's worth it. I have been listening to my members talk about the campgrounds they visit up and down the eastern seaboard for years now, and I have almost never heard a truly bad review. Everyone has their favorites. Everyone has a wish list — an amenity they'd love to see, something they think could be done better somewhere — but "I'll never go back there" is almost never part of the conversation. Gay campgrounds, as a category, deliver. They

When Roberto and I first moved to central Maine in 2020, after fifteen years in Houston, we weren't looking for a campground. We were looking for a gay bar. A club. Anything. We'd gone from a city with a real gayborhood to a place where we genuinely couldn't find a single gay space within a reasonable drive. We searched wide, we would have driven to Boston, we even talked about a road trip to Montreal, and somehow, in that search, we kept landing on this strange result just t

2026 Season Next weekend is Memorial Day and we are at capacity on cabins, glamping tents, and RV sites — not a single one left. We do still have tent sites available, but if you're planning to come out, boo k in advance. Don't show up assuming we have space. The pond will be warm, the bar will be open, and it's going to be a great weekend — just don't leave your site to chance. I remember the early days when Roberto and I would look at the reservation calendar and will it to

Some of the best days at Twin Ponds Lodge aren’t the ones that sell out. Weekends will always have their own kind of magic—big energy, big hugs, big plans. But we’ve been talking a lot about the other kind of magic: the slower, more conversational, more “pull up a chair and stay awhile” kind. The kind where you actually get to meet people, learn names, and feel the lodge settle into its natural rhythm. So for 2026, we’re putting a little extra love into two midweek days—and i

Twin Ponds Lodge is easy to misunderstand if you’re looking for a shortcut. People love to compress places like this into a single idea—something neat and dismissible. And when they do, it’s usually not because they’ve taken the time to see how the place actually works. It’s because reducing something complex makes it easier to judge from a distance. Here’s what I’ll say plainly: when someone gets condescending about the sexual side of Twin Ponds Lodge, it often has less to d

The switch flips on May 1 Starting May 1, Twin Ponds Lodge is back to being open seven days a week, and honestly, you can feel it coming. Seasonal campers start rolling back in. Familiar faces pop up again. The place shifts from spring mode into that pre-summer buzz where everything feels possible. Behind the scenes, we are doing what we always do this time of year: getting the camp ready, knocking out projects, tightening up the details, and making improvements that keep us

As we wrap up 2025 and head into the final stretch of the holiday season, we're taking a moment to reflect on what this year meant to us at Twin Ponds Lodge—and what we're dreaming up for 2026. A Year of Community This year, we watched our community grow. We saw first-time visitors become regulars. We watched friendships deepen over potlucks and karaoke nights. We celebrated Bears Weekends, Frat Fridays, Kink & Fetish themes, and everything in between. Most importantly, we wa

Running a small, independent place like Twin Ponds Lodge is a true labor of love, and every bit of support from our community makes a real difference. One of the easiest (and totally free!) ways you can help us — and any small business you want to see thrive — is by simply engaging with our social media. Why Social Media Support Matters Those likes, comments, shares, and tags aren’t just digital high-fives. Every time you interact with our posts, you help more people discover

An Unofficial Guide to Clothing Optional Etiquette at Twin Ponds Lodge The Clothing Optional Part Is Not That Complicated Twin Ponds Lodge is clothing optional. That means exactly what it says. You can be naked. You can be clothed. You can be somewhere in between — flip flops and a smile, a towel around your waist, whatever works for you. Actually, if a three piece suit is what makes you happy, you might want to check our calendar because we have a Kink and Fetish Weekend eve

Hello Campers! By now, you’ve probably caught wind of The Growing Table—so let’s talk about how this project is growing roots at Twin Ponds Lodge. The Growing Table, our new nonprofit adventure that’s all about growing food, growing friendships, and growing our impact right here in Central Maine. As part of the Twin Ponds Lodge community, a unique New England gay campground, we know how special it is to have a space where everyone belongs, and we’re always looking for ways t

This guide is for you if you’ve never been to Twin Ponds Lodge, or any clothing-optional campground. If you’re brand new to the experience, whether solo or with friends who are also first-timers, you’re in the right place. When you visit, you’ll be joining the TPL Social Club, a private, men-only club that’s not open to the public. This private club structure is what allows us to offer a safe, welcoming space where the rules are created by the membership itself. Membership is

When we first arrived at Twin Ponds Lodge, we stepped into something truly special—a close-knit community full of heart, history, and genuine connection. Along with that gift, we also inherited a few hurdles: a reputation shaped more by old rumors than by real experiences, and a name that, for many, was still a well-kept secret. Tucked away in this beautiful, rural stretch of central Maine, Twin Ponds Lodge was a little gay camping community hidden in plain sight—most people