HIKES & EVENTS
Sixth Annual FL Go Gathering
Camping
DATE: Jan 17, 2020
END DATE: Jan 20, 2020
Hike/Event Location: Clewiston FL
Trip Leader(s)
JPHiker
Lake Worth Beach, FL United States
Meeting Time: 12:00 PM
Max # People: 100
Hike Guiding / Event Fee: Yes, but only to cover shared expenses, and I too am paying
Hike Difficulty Level:
Easy to Moderate
(Do you qualify to attend with this hike difficulty rating? Click Here.)
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Summary
Come celebrate the sixth year of our Annual Florida GO Gathering in January 2020. As in the past, the folks at Vitambi Springs Resort & Camp have graciously offered to host us for the Martin Luther Weekend (1/17-1/20). This coming year our traditional camping site, Tamaho Mesa is undergoing renovations, and will not be available. However, the folks at Vitambi have made available another site for our exclusive use. This site is called Ft. Orion, and it is a better site than our previous one in many ways. It has a bigger firepit than Tamaho Mesa, has two bathrooms nearby, an outdoor shower, and it includes the Barracks for our exclusive use. In addition, it is closer to the Main Lodge, and will be a shorter walk than our old site. Unfortunately, this new site will cost us a bit more than in the past, though at $30 per person it is still a bargain.
As in the past, we will be collecting the money from you, as we will be fronting the cost. The $30 will guarantee you either a primitive tent site (no electricity) or a bed in the Barracks (7 beds), though these are all on a first come first serve basis. If you are staying with us at these designated sites, you need not contact Vitambi directly, as we will be submitting the names of paid attendees to them. However, if you choose to make other arrangements, you do need to contact them to make reservations, and please note that these other sites will cost more. Some of these other sites conveniently abut Ft. Orion, and these are as follows: five cabins, and three electrified tent sites. There are other facilities that are further away, but are also available for rental directly from Vitambi.
The Main Lodge at Vitambi has a restaurant (Bolo Café & Bar) that serves well prepared meals. This year they are offering us a meal plan for $40 that includes five meals of your choosing. Any additional meals can be purchased separately a la carte. This cost is entirely optional, though highly recommended, as the nearest restaurants outside of Vitambi are a half hour away in Clewiston. Drinks at the Bar are not included in the meal plan.
At this time of the year Florida generally has fabulous weather for daytime outdoors activities. Kayaking, hiking, and bird watching venues are not far from the campground, and some Gay Outdoors members are already planning some great activities in those places. We will be posting these trip announcements individually as we firm up all the details.
If you are planning to participate in this Sixth Annual camping weekend, go ahead and sign up in this site as soon as you can. At some point in early December, we will send you the address where you can send your $30 check.
If you are not familiar with Vitambi, here is a short description:
Vitambi is a privately owned gay campground located approximately 20 miles south of Lake Okeechobee and the city of Clewiston, FL. It is easily accessible to most of the major urban areas in Florida, and it is approximately a 90 minute drive from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, and from West Palm Beach. It is about 2.5 hours from Orlando or Tampa. The campground sits in the middle of the vast agricultural area around Lake Okeechobee, and offers an ideal Florida rural getaway with modern amenities in a tropical forested setting. The property is quite large with only a portion developed. The Main Lodge features a full restaurant and bar (Bolo Café & Bar), Wi-Fi access, library lounge, and a general store. Other amenities at the campground include a clothing optional heated pool, a modern shower house, a steam room, and a well equipped gym. There are also a number of hiking trails and a couple of lakes within the property, for impromptu hikes, fishing, canoeing, exploring and wildlife viewing. This region of South Florida is a haven for wintertime bird watchers. Vitambi has a wide array of accommodations ranging from primitive tent sites, rustic cabins, bunkhouse/barracks, RV sites, cabins with full electric, 2 & 3 bedroom rental homes and the Pine Tree Inn with eight private rooms in a dorm style setting with shared areas. All accommodations except for the primitive sites include linen service. For further information on Vitambi and for rates on these other accommodations, please feel free to check the Vitambi website: www.vitambi.com. Or call their toll free number: (800) 983-8488.
Look forward to hanging out around the campfire with all of you.
Directions To Trailhead Parking Lot
Check the Vitambi website for directions to the campground from different points in Florida and for GPS coordinates.
Trip Leader
- Online Status: OFFLINE
- Last Login: 03/25/2024 04:58 PM
- Member Since: 11/11/2002
- Approved By: JPHiker
members signed up for this event
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- Driving My Own Car
(Willing to give guys a ride)
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- Member Since: 12/03/2018
- Driving My Own Car
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- Comment: from Tampa area if anybody needs a lift bringing bike along too. I went last year had a good time slept in my minivan very comfortable, food and company was great.
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(Possibly willing to give guys a ride)
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- Member Since: 03/22/2014
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- Comment: We are looking forward to seeing everybody again and we are talking about the possibility of having another kayak trip down the Estero River is anybody up for this...
- Online Status: OFFLINE
- Last Login: 01/17/2020 10:34 AM
- Member Since: 10/05/2015
- Driving My Own Car
(Possibly willing to give guys a ride)
- Comment: I will be riding with Ron, from the Sarasota area.
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- Driving My Own Car
(Willing to give guys a ride)
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- Member Since: 02/26/2014
- Driving My Own Car
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- Member Since: 07/08/2010
- Driving My Own Car
(Willing to give guys a ride)
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- Member Since: 08/12/2018
- Driving My Own Car
(Willing to give guys a ride)
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- Member Since: 09/16/2002
- Driving My Own Car
(Possibly willing to give guys a ride)
- Online Status: OFFLINE
- Last Login: 01/14/2020 07:55 PM
- Member Since: 12/27/2017
- Driving My Own Car
(Willing to give guys a ride)
- Comment: Coming from St Petersburg, FLi
- Online Status: OFFLINE
- Last Login: 01/12/2020 09:28 AM
- Member Since: 04/04/2014
- Driving My Own Car
(NOT willing to give guys a ride)
Outdoor Fitness Level: Moderate to Strenuous
Bristol & Isla Bastimentos, Bocas del Toro, Panamá, NH
United States
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- Last Login: 12/30/2023 09:52 PM
- Member Since: 05/20/2006
- Driving My Own Car
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Not sure I can make it but hope to visit for at least a day. For those of you in Florida, I am the president of Florida Great Outdoors and we have been a non-profit club for over 27 years. Given the changes of Gay Outoors, please consider to join us (free) at https://www.floridagreatoutdoors.org/ Follow the yahoo mail link, that is our contact with our over 700 members. We do not allow junk, all posts must be approved. Primarily in south Florida but we have events all over the state.
Some people have asked about the cost. Please be aware that Vitambi charges us as a group, and that the $30 per person is a calculation on my part assuming that at least 10 people will be camping (or using the Barracks) with us, in order to break even. You do not need to pay Vitambi directly, as I have covered this already. If you've made other arrangements with Vitambi, then you do pay them directly for that.
It does seem that the email glitch of the website has not been fixed and some people indeed have not received the email on where to send your check. So, in any event, if you have not sent your check for one reason or another, please hold on to it, and pay me in person when you see me.
Hi Everyone! Looking forward to meeting all of you. This is will be my first GO Gathering, but not my first GO activity. I am looking forward to the biking, VITAMBI, camping, sugar-cane tour and to just to get the hell out of my office...lol. I'll be coming from the East Coast side of Florida and probably won't arrive to VITAMBI until 5ish. If you need a ride, please message me. Message me if you have any questions, - Be well, Marcus
Hey guys, we are going to stay for 2 nights at vitambi 1/17 and 1/18 all booked. Looking forward to meeting everyone and make new friends! Matthew and Sam
I will soon be sending an e-mail to the participants with the address for sending your $30 check. Some times e-mail from the GO website don't go through, so if you do not get one in the next few days, please contact me by clicking on the mail icon on my profile. I do get the e-mails, at least most of the time.
Hi Guys: We are a few weeks away from this exciting camping weekend. I have just posted a couple of events separately. One is a biking or walking event on a portion of the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail in Clewiston, co-led by the incomparable Shredmann (aka Ron) for Saturday. I have also scheduled a tour of a sugar cane farm and mill for Monday. As of now Sunday is still open, so if you would like to organize something, please feel free to do so.
I have no tenting eqp Carlos so need the barracks.
Looking forward to yet another fun gathering at Vitambi!