About Us
Mission:
Our mission is to inform, equip and inspire families for outdoor explorations that are active, affordable and fun. We seek out places and experiences that offer an engaging natural, cultural or historic ‘story’ for curious minds. We strive to keep our own travels and decisions consistent with this mission.
Goals:
- Reduce waste, conserve energy and prevent pollution in all business activities.
- Strive toward becoming a zero-waste company.
- Continually move toward greater product stewardship. We believe what a business makes and sells is direct a reflection of their mission, message, and goals.
Philosophy:
Our hiker-glyph logo, the GlyphGuy, represents the basic human need to explore. GlyphGuy is about being outside, spending time with family and enjoying the simple pleasures and natural wonders of the outdoors.
Our Story:
Today’s parents find that distraction, expense and time management often lead to a ‘paralysis’ when it comes to planning for outdoor vacations, outings, even day trips. GlyphGuy helps families and those curious about the cultural, historic and natural features of California maximize their outdoor time.
For 20 years GlyphGuy has supported family travel and outdoor experiences for both parents and children. GlyphGuy began leading interpretive nature hikes in the redwoods of California in the early 1990’s. These weekly hikes were held Saturday mornings at a youth hostel and included both American and international travelers. The hikes focused on the ‘story’ of the area which increased visitor understanding.
In 1996 the founders of GlyphGuy, Mark and Christiane, needed a vacation to de-compress from their overworked schedules. The trip was to the Mojave Desert to visit some ancient and rarely seen petroglyphs. These rock drawings inspired a hiker-glyph design. This hiker-glyph became the logo for family-oriented day trips targeted to other overworked families.
The trips were designed for both parents and children. The trips were active and included: day hikes, whale watching trips, kayaking, natural history museum visits, even backpacking weekends. A family group tour was even planned to the Austrian and Italian Alps. The participants of these adventures referred to the hiker-glyph as the 'GlyphGuy.'
In addition to day trips, GlyphGuy developed and led Hiking for Families’ programs through a local community center. GlyphGuy continues to organize small family group adventures through local schools and parent groups.
During the trips parents often commented about the lack of family-friendly and kid-sized backpacks. In 2002 GlyphGuy designed and sold the first GlyphGuy backpack. Since that time GlyphGuy’s backpacks have been selected to represent the youth outreach experiences of The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, California State Parks and The National Park Service’s Junior Ranger Program.
Our work to reduce waste, conserve energy and prevent pollution in all business activities was recognized in 2007 when GlyphGuy was certified as the first home-based Green Business in Sunnyvale, California. We were publicly recognized for this effort by The City of Sunnyvale and The County of Santa Clara.
GlyphGuy is a business member of the National Association for Interpretation (NAI). We are a small, family owned company. Our staff includes Certified Interpretive Guides and retired science instructors.
