Charit Creek Lodge Off Grid Retreat
We decided to spend the night at this wonderful little place and this time, we came when it wasn’t scorching hot like last time.
Yes, we have been here before. This is why we like it. The quiet and serenity makes this place wonderful to get away to on occasion. I did charge my phone prior to leaving the parking area (which is a .8 mile hike from the lodge) so I could take pictures and write some thoughts about this article.
The hike into the grounds is a beautiful walk down into a valley…just remember that all things that go down must also go back up…to get to the card.
This was also an exercise in minimalism as I was planning on bringing a bunch of camera gear but then decided that I wanted to see if I could get good photos with only my iPhone.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is a wonder of modern engineering and has so many capabilities that it will do a great job as a snapshot camera for trips like this.
The normal rig for forays such as this would normally be my Leica CL and the 35mm lens and possibly the 17mm as well to give me two options for field of view. This worked well in England to be quite honest and I really didn’t need any of the hot rod gear like my full frame Leica SL2 or the host of lenses for it. The little Leica CL has a more than capable 24 megapixel sensor that produces wonderful images. The larger Leica SL2 having a 47 megapixel sensor does give you more to work with as well as allowing you to print larger but at the end of the day I had to be honest with myself. I rarely print my photos and when I do they are in a photo book which isn’t more than 12 inches on the longest side. So I have started downsizing my load outs for trips like this.
Here is the hard facts. The iPhone captures snapshots so well with its measly 12 megapixels that you can print 8x10 just fine and no one will ever be the wiser. So this little overnight trip is a chance to test that as I will be stopping by a Walgreens and making some 4x6 prints as well as maybe even some 8x10 prints as well just to test the idea.
Back to Charit Creek a little. It is in Big South Fork Forest. This is either a state or federal forest, I am not sure which, but it is a huge tract of protected land and Charit Creek is in the middle of it. Hence the “unplugged” nature of the operation.
When you get here, you quickly notice the lack of electricity. Even the kitchen that cooks the huge communal meals doesn’t have much more than some solar power. All of the cabins are rustic styled with wood burning stoves for heat and screen windows for AC. They are more akin to bunk houses than cabins actually but they are nice nonetheless.
There is a plethora of games and outside activities to do (even though I wrote this blog using my well charged iPhone)… There are also copious fire rings and PLENTY of firewood is on hand for all the lodges needs. The firewood does cost you money but it isn’t that much and you get way more than you really need for what you pay. For details like that, contact the lodge as I don’t know when you are reading this and prices could have changed between now and your current time. Suffice it to say that prices are not extreme in any way.
There is also a bathhouse with showers should you want to bring shower gear with you. (I didn’t since I will be home tomorrow afternoon and can just bathe when I get home). The main lodge has the dining hall as well as guest rooms on one end and plenty of porch space containing a metric ton of rocking chairs.
The provided meals are supper and breakfast with lunch being left to you to figure out (with a few exceptions). The meals are huge though so you can probably make it from one to the next easily enough. There is a copious amount of hiking around the lodge with one trail going to a waterfall.
Happened to catch Venus the next morning while stoking the campfire.
Another thing the lodge specializes in is accommodating horseback riders. Complete with hitching posts and a horse barn with stables near the lodge. There are numerous horse back riding trails in the surrounding area as well and there is even a sectioned off parking lot just for equestrian rigs where you leave your vehicle while at Charit Creek Lodge.
I do not know the history of the lodge but the whole property makes me think that this was a homestead at some point in the 19th century what with the construction techniques used to build the buildings. I could be wrong and they could be newer but these logs look period correct for the late 1800s.
The buildings make for really interesting photography subject matter so once we got here and stowed our gear, I made my way around and grabbed some photos of everything. The whole time I was doing this, I was attempting to capture the “feel” of the whole place. I have come to do this more and more as time goes on. There is already a metric ton of photos of Charit Creek Lodge floating around on the web, so I need to do something different if I want something unique and interesting that stands out from the ordinary.
Side note: I found out that I really should have brought my camera as I was informed that the milky way has been visible the last few nights…. Lol. You never know what to expect. I don’t regret not bringing my cameras though as it defeats the purpose of traveling light weight. Sometimes you just need to enjoy the event instead of worrying about documenting it for others.
I saw the following tonight:
The Milky Way
The starlink satellite train
Many other satellites
The glow worms in the grass
We heard the great horned owls calling each other
The barn cat (trust me on this one)
I also learned that the iPhone has a low light mode where it will do a long exposure and get great photos in super low light. I was blown away by what it could do when photographing the campfire. Just take a look!
These are 1/5 second exposures! Yeah, that is cool. They are also ISO 10,000 but it does some sort of noise reduction and it looks good.
Sometimes you don’t have to plan out this huge package of gear for a trip to be successful for photography, you just need to be creative with your smartphone and go have a good time. We as photographers want to over complicate what we need to get good photos. Most people don’t even care what camera was used to get the picture or honestly will assume you used your smartphone anyway.
Isn’t it interesting how we will do that? HaHaHa… Anyway, back to Charit Creek Lodge for a little longer. When you leave you have to return back to your car out on the same trail you came in on, the difference this time is that it is uphill almost the entire way so if your fitness level isn’t high I would suggest taking your time so you don’t over exert yourself.
Once back at the truck you can “reconnect” to the internet via cellular data and get back to the world. That is how I am able to share this story with you. Ironic isnt it? I use the internet to communicate how NOT being on the internet is a good thing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the photos and the story and if you want to look into Charit Creek Lodge, follow the links provided. Thank you for following along and I hope to see you in the next one.