View Full Version : Caratunk House is now open
aaronthebugbuffet
07-08-2004, 08:56
Paul is back from the PCT and opened his place on July 1. I stayed on the 6th and had an excellent stay. Paul is a great host with a slammin' breakfast!
Yes Paul is back open. But Steve the fairyman is getting pretty lonely down the road. Paul has taken all his buisness. Steve is such a nice person to. I feel bad for him sometimes. He is trying to run the ferry service and a store and make a living and the Caratunk House just gets all the buisness he use to. I am not knocking the Caratunk House. I guess I am just putting in a plug for Steve here.
Just wanted some clarification; is Caratunk House closed for good unless someone spends the bucks for renovating it to satisfy the appropriate State of Maine official?
Right now there is a for sale sign out front and when I talked to the owner he said that he is selling and will most likely not be open next year.
SGT Rock
10-08-2004, 09:54
I think it would be col if you bought it and got it running Troll. Of course I don't know how much extra cash it would take to get it going over and above the price to buy the place. Plus the need to have a job to pay the morgage might make it hard to run it.
Youngblood
10-08-2004, 09:59
I think it would be col if you bought it and got it running Troll. Of course I don't know how much extra cash it would take to get it going over and above the price to buy the place. Plus the need to have a job to pay the morgage might make it hard to run it.
Maybe WhiteBlaze Hostel north AND WhiteBlaze Hostel south? ... duelling hostels. :)
I think it would be col if you bought it and got it running Troll. Of course I don't know how much extra cash it would take to get it going over and above the price to buy the place. Plus the need to have a job to pay the morgage might make it hard to run it.Yes I would love to buy the place. There were many factors of why I did not. Just to mention the few was the price they wanted was ridicules and the place was only insulated in the kitchen and the master bedroom. So heating the place during the winter would be a real expensive. You could not live off the income of thru-hikers. You would have to make it a four season place. So you would have to have the whole house insulated. I don’t think that would be too cheap either. If they would have came down a lot on the price of the house I think I would have bought it. There are other reasons but this was the main reason. Maybe I will find my dream hostel someday.
tlbj6142
10-08-2004, 12:29
Bob, of Gull Pond Lodge Fame, told me it cost him almost $1000 to heat the lower level of his place last winter. Which is one reason why he doesn't open his 2nd floor in the winter.
Seems a bit high, but given the condition of his place and the fact that I have no idea what propane costs or what ME winters are like, it might be true.
I have talked to Bob. He will open his rooms upstairs for snowmobilers or others during the winter but he has to have advance notice and you have to book it for so many days. I can not remmber how many days it is. But one room is like $65 a day a couple years ago. This is to help him with the heating cost. But if you think of it this is not a bad deal for renting a room during the winter at $65 a day in prime snowmobile country.
The Caratunk House has no insulation at all in it except in two rooms. I think Bobs is insulated somewhat.