Cheap lodging Sonora High grad’s dream

Guy McBryde , 33, stands outside of the hostel he runs on Main Street in Groveland. Amy Alonzo Rozak/Union Democrat, copyright 2009

Housed in a former dental office along Main Street in Groveland, the hostel has 17 beds that cost $25 each per night.
 

The hostel opened in the spring and caters mostly to tourists going to or returning from Yosemite National Park.

After a busy summer season, owner Guy McBryde said he’s accomplished his main goal, which was “to prove the hostel concept could be a viable business in Groveland.”

McBryde, a 1994 graduate of Sonora High School, got the idea while working in a Sacramento office.

“I was sitting there at my job thinking: I want to do something different, that this isn’t working,” he said.

So he decided to channel his passion for travel into a hostel. He now works in Sacramento during the week and spends Thursday evening through Sunday evening in Groveland.

“I sit there during the week and I can’t wait to get up here,” he said from the hostel’s front porch.

The hostel, housed in an historic Victorian, is full of quirky character.

The front desk has flowers in a plastic water bottle along with samples of soaps and deodorants left by McBryde’s mother.

On the walls are a large world map, pictures of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and an Ansel Adams poster of Yosemite Valley.

Puzzles are on top of kitchen cupboards and there are shelves full of paperbacks which people donate and trade out. Someone left a novel written in Dutch.

Beds are divided among four rooms. All but one of them are bunk beds.

Three bathrooms, a social area and kitchen are shared among guests.   

The hostel has hosted guests from around the world, including Europe, Australia and South America. On the age spectrum, there’s been everyone from infants to retirees.

“We had a couple of Ph.D. students from Iran one night,” McBryde said.

McBryde, 33, tries to make sure guests experience some Groveland culture as he sends them to community pancake breakfasts, outdoor movies in Mary Laveroni Community Park and concerts throughout town.
 

He said residents of the Highway 120 corridor should be doing everything they can to get people to stay, and not just pass through town.

Because the hostel caters to a different demographic, it has brought a new element to Groveland. With more people staying in town, it has helped restaurants and other businesses, McBryde said.

“I was fearful of not getting a lot of support in town, but everyone has been awesome,” he said.

Lynn Upthagrove, owner of the Hotel Charlotte and a director-elect of the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce, said the hostel typically draws a “young and energetic crowd” that is good for the local economy.

“I think they’re a well-needed lodging choice that didn’t exist before,” she said of the hostel.

Born in North Carolina, McBryde moved to Groveland when he was 16 because his mother married a Groveland man. He spent his junior and senior years at Sonora High.

After high school, he spent four years in the Marines.

“That’s where I got my travel bug,” he said, noting trips to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

McBryde spent the next several years working as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter — both on the Stanislaus and Eldorado national forests — and going to college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s in strategic intelligence.

During the busy summer months, he found it to be quite a challenge.

“I remember dragging my computer around and ripping off linens,” he said.

The hostel, which features free wireless Internet, was partially inspired by the Yosemite Bug in Midpines, along the Highway 140 entrance into Yosemite. The Bug features a hostel, among other amenities such as a spa and cafe.

“Hostels are a cool thing more Americans need to be exposed to,” McBryde said.

A sign outside of the hostel advertises American Adventure Hostels, implying that there’s more than one. Originally, the plan was to have a network of hostels, but McBryde said for now he will just focus on the Groveland one. He has yet to come up with a new name.

McBryde’s business partner is Kevin Larson, a Cal Fire firefighter who lives in Sacramento. The two met while fighting fires on the Eldorado National Forest.  

 While the hostel “sustained itself during the summer,” McBryde is not sure what the winter holds.

McBryde said he sees huge potential for a hostel in Groveland. He would like to either buy the existing hostel, which he now leases, and build an addition, or purchase property nearby and build a new hostel. 

His ultimate goal is to make the hostel successful enough to support itself and allow him to travel during the off season.

“After doing this over the summer, I feel like I’ve found my niche,” he said.