You’ve probably heard (via push notification) these startling stats about our collective screen time: More than half of all young adults check their smartphones every 15 minutes. The average American adult spends 11 hours a day interacting with screens. And more than 60 percent of us admit to being addicted to the internet and our devices. Enter the digital detox. 
Science has proven that cutting down on screen time is beneficial for your physical, emotional, and mental health for a myriad of reasons—from reducing stress and depression to increasing creativity, physical activity, and mental clarity. 

But embarking on a digital detox at home, with always-on Wi-Fi, is about as foolproof as committing to a dry January with a fully stocked liquor cabinet. A more successful strategy for breaking free from technology is to leave it all behind—follow a road along a river that takes you deep into the mountains and a cell phone dead zone. If that river happens to be the Frying Pan, you might find yourself at Beyul Retreat (if you can find it using an old-school paper map) in Meredith, about an hour’s drive from downtown Aspen.

Part backcountry adventure lodge, part wellness sanctuary, Beyul Retreat (beyulretreat.com) encompasses 13 cabins and a seven-room lodge (think Western charm meets boho chic) on 32 acres along the scenic Frying Pan River. Its cabins are Wi-Fi free, but the internet is an option at the main lodge (don’t tell your digital-obsessed partner). Since lifelong Aspenite Reuben Sadowsky opened Beyul in 2020 with Andrew Skewes and Abby Stern, it has grown a loyal following for its setting, vibe, community-driven events, and outdoor concerts.

With the goal of creating a space that fosters the Aspen Idea (the nurturing of the mind, body, and spirit), Beyul’s founders practice community engineering, which centers around providing ways for groups and individuals to develop physical and emotional skills to better take care of humanity and the planet. This summer’s retreats include a Conscious Summer Camp for “heart-centered women” (July 21–23), Camp Omega Flow Genome Project (July 25–30), plus Gravel Camp (July 31–August 3) for gravel riding enthusiasts and a Mushroom Retreat (August 10–13) for foragers and “contemporary thinkers.”

Regardless of the season, a visit to Beyul brings the potential to unwind, explore, and reset. Stern teaches complimentary yoga every Saturday and options also abound for hiking and biking, canoeing and paddleboarding on Beyul’s pond, a cedar sauna and cold plunge, as well as fly fishing on a private stretch of the Frying Pan River. 
Also not to be missed is the Forest Spiral, an “open-air meditation temple” of 3,150 pieces of found glass suspended in lodgepole pines. It was installed by 2021 Aspen Art Museum Artistic Fellow Lara Whitley along a section of the 10th Mountain Division Trail on the property to inspire contemplation, reflection, and appreciation. 
Sure it’s an Insta-worthy moment, but with eyes open and decoupled from technology, you’ll have it all to yourself, to store, recall, and cherish forever with the RAM inside your head. 

ALSO TRY

Catto Center at ToklatAt press time, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES, aspennature.org) was anticipating a fall reopening of the Catto Center at Toklat, a historic 7,500-square-foot wilderness retreat center in the heart of the Castle Creek Valley, 12 miles south of Aspen.  The center originally opened as the Toklat Wilderness Lodge for the 1949 Aspen Goethe Bicentennial. Following a nearly two-year, $6.7 million renovation, it will offer an expanded and upgraded meeting space; a reading room/library; studios for scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers; and public retreats focused on everything from deep ecology to forest bathing in a pristine place that’s often described as Aspen’s Walden Pond. In other words: an ideal destination for anyone contemplating a digital detox.