There's something wonderfully freeing about "can't." North Cascades Lodge is a place where you can't make or receive a phone call. You can't watch TV in your room. You can't read the newspaper. You can't check email or catch up on Facebook. It's off the grid. It's hard to believe such a place still exists, but thanks to the National Park Service, it does. You'll find very few like it.

The lodge is in Stehekin, a gorgeous lakeside settlement 80 miles south of Canada. In fact, it's the last northern post office for hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail. Here's another can't: you can't drive there. Instead, pay to park at Fields Point Landing and catch the Lady of the Lake II ferry, or spring for a seaplane ride from Chelan. Either way, you're journeying "uplake," northwest along the 55-mile length of Lake Chelan. At 1,486 feet, Chelan is the third-deepest lake in the country, clean and green from glacial sediment. In minutes, your phone will be useful only as a clock and a camera. Savor that.

You're in a narrow gouge carved through saw-toothed mountain peaks by a confluence of glaciers. Step off the boat, and the lodge beckons with shaded decks and log-cabin architecture. Stehekin feels more like southern Alaska than northern Washington.  Its name means "the way through," as this lake was a freeway for indigenous people crossing over Cascade Pass. They began painting traffic signs on a rock across the lake five millennia ago - their glyphs descending as the glaciers melted. Contemplate geological and sociological time while enjoying lunch at the lodge restaurant. The food is terrific, especially given the lodge's captive audience. As one year-round resident explained, "Y'know, we have to eat here, too."

Fewer than a hundred people brave the snowy winters. Tourists arrive in early June and leave by November. Meanwhile, eight kids study side by side in a self-contained schoolhouse, then graduate from eighth grade and venture out to meet the world. There are black bears in the woods - and sometimes, in the streets. Deer are everywhere, oblivious to the fact that they're in a recreational area designated huntable for much of the year. Day tourists hobnob with hardcore PCT hikers. The snow on jagged Castle Rock gleams in the sun. A tour bus carries wide-eyed photographers to 312-foot-tall Rainbow Falls, where they endanger their cameras by snapping selfies in the mist. Another conveys guests to Stehekin Valley Ranch, where they're able to enjoy a massage, rent Discover Bikes, or set off on half-day rides out to Coon Lake on horseback.

The cinnamon rolls and sandwiches at Stehekin Pastry Company are justly famous, as is a nearby residence featured in Sunset and Martha Stewart Living. The locals, whether seasonal or year-round, are downright eager to show you the sights. We expected grizzled loners and met welcoming extroverts. We feared dry jerky but lingered over gourmet ice cream. The weekend of Oct. 7, Buckner Homestead celebrates its annual Harvest Fest, complete with live music, community potluck, and free apple picking in a breathtaking mountain valley orchard. Top all this off with an offer made exclusively to Weekly Volcano readers: the lodge now offers a 15% discount on accommodations to retired and active servicemembers and their families.

Pack light, but do bring a book. Close your eyes. You'll hear nothing but the twitter of birdsong and the bumps and squeaks of hulls against the dock. Breathe. The 21st century and all those emails can wait.

North Cascades Lodge At Stehekin, 1418 W. Woodin Ave., Stehekin, $134-$500, 509.682.4494