John Flaherty

John Flaherty is the owner of Central Coast Outdoors, a regionally focused guiding company that runs kayaking, bicycling and hiking tours along California’s Central Coast. The company is small and John still enjoys guiding some of the tours himself, although his duties run the typical gamut of a small business owner and include marketing, sales, finance, hiring, training and operations. Each year Central Coast Outdoors has grown and now employs five guides on a seasonal basis with another network of eight reserve guides. Trip Advisor has ranked Central Coast Outdoors the #1 attraction in Morro Bay since 2008.

John and his wife Virginia started Central Coast Outdoors in 2003 after successful careers as guides and field managers with Backroads, an international bicycle touring company. John was the Southwest Regional Coordinator for Backroads for nine years and was responsible for improving the quality of trips in the region until the Southwest became the highest ranked region in the company.

John has sat on the board of the San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition and is currently involved with the San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control Board in developing the SLO Car Free initiative.

John grew up in the Midwest and attended Dartmouth College. He graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth in 1987 with a B.A. in History. He also successfully completed a National Outdoor Leadership School Prince William Sea Kayaking expedition in August 1985. John moved to California in 1989 and has enjoyed hiking, bicycling, kayaking, backpacking and skiing throughout the state over the last 20 years. He and his wife Virginia moved to Los Osos in 1998 and have a daughter who attends Monarch Grove Elementary School.