About us
Looking for a community of adventure loving, boundary pushing, encouraging women to explore the world with?
You found it!
Explorer Chick is a 2022 Travel and Leisure World’s Best Tour Operator changing the lives of thousands with our supportive community formed organically by the women who have traveled all over the world with us on our small-group adventure travel tours.
What we got here is a happy by-product of Real Women embarking on Real Adventures. Women bonded together by challenging themselves in the outdoors. Women who naturally encouraged one another and connected right away. Women who live to LIVE.
🦸♀️ The friendships are REAL.
🦸♀️ The vulnerability on the trails is REAL.
🦸♀️ The empowerment is REAL.
🦸♀️ The personal growth is REAL.
🦸♀️ The cuss words, inside jokes, and SHE-naningans are REAL.
And we’ve been doing it since 2014! That year, Explorer Chick founder, Nicki Bruckmann was a wife, cat mom and home owner who worked full-time in corporate finance. Instead of feeling fulfilled by ticking all the boxes, she found herself feeling stifled. She made the choice to break away from it all and step out of that life. To figure things out, she needed a vacation reset. But not just any vacation. She wanted something that would feed her adventurous soul and push boundaries. But the thing about divorce? You lose that built-in travel buddy. Believing that other women must also be in the same situation; craving adventure and travel and not wanting to do it all alone, she launched Explorer Chick! Check out the whole story here. Launching in 2015, Explorer Chick ran one trip with three bold ladies looking for adventure. From there, this amazing community of women continues to grow, and in 2022 more than 1100 women traveled with us on 133 trips over 5 continents!
Whether you arrive as a solo traveler or with several of your closest gal pals, you’ll be greeted by a group of like-minded women travelers of all ages who love to go hiking, camping, rafting, backpacking, canyoning, surfing, kayaking, climbing and more. Basically, we’re all in on anything that gets us outdoors and active!
We travel the US National Parks and bucket list destinations like Iceland, Jordan, Galapagos, Croatia, Uganda and so many more.
The best part? You are taken care of by Explorer Chick’s professional, certified guides. They handle all the details: from food to accommodations to gear and extra words of encouragement when you need them the most. Leaving you to simply “mindlessly wander”.
“Okay, so how do I join Explorer Chick?”
It’s easy!
We’re not a club. There are no dues. You can simply engage with us on any of our social media (linked below), send us an email, introduce yourself in our Facebook group, learn what we’re really about on our Google reviews, or go big and book your next adventure on our website.
Say Hello 👋
💻 Website:[ https://explorerchick.com/](https://explorerchick.com/)
📧 Email: [hello@explorerchick.com](mailto:hello@explorerchick.com)
📸 Instagram:[ https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/](https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/)
❤️ Facebook:[ https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/](https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/)
👯♀️ Facebook Group:[ https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick](https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick)
🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick
What are women saying? Jump down the rabbit hole with our Google Reviews.
Upcoming events
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Croatia Hiking National Parks and Multisport Adventure Tour
Location not specified yetGet ready to have your mind blown multiple times over turquoise waters, frothing waterfalls, badass mountain summits, and medieval towns. Croatia will turn anyone into an annoying romantic. Book your week-long women’s multi-sport adventure tour featuring hiking, e-biking, mountain-summiting, sea kayaking, snorkeling, and plenty of Adriatic Sea swimming. You’ll explore ancient cities tripping through architectural history from ancient Roman, Venetian Gothic, Romanesque, and Medieval. Cycle through stupid-pretty Istrian Peninsula hilltop towns. Bust your booties through Plitvice Lakes and Paklenica National Parks. Climb a freaking Via Ferrata to summit Bojin Kuk. And float through the 80+ islands that make up Kornati National Park. BRB we need to pick our jaw up from off the ground.
EXPLORE ZAGREB, CROATIA’S CAPITAL CITY
You and your Explorer Chick entourage will geek over all the architecture porn – from medieval stone gates to Gothic cathedrals. We’ll visit all the “musts” and gather for a welcome dinner in the Old Town. Did you just change your Insta handle to Croatia_Cutie? We are obsessed with you!
E-BIKES, WINE, AND TRUFFLES IN THE ISTRIAN COUNTRYSIDE
What could be better than seeing tiny cutie towns? TASTING the wares of those tiny cutie towns! We’ll cruise the Parenzana trail on our E-Bikes, stopping in Grožnjan, Oprtalj, and Motovun for coffee, olive oil tastings, and a spectacular lunch. By evening, we’ll cycle to the top of Motovun for a stunning gargoyle view of the Adriatic cities. You won’t leave Istria without loading your bike down with bottles of wine and a tummy full of truffles.
HIKE PLITVICE LAKES AND PAKLENICA NATIONAL PARKS
You’re gonna see the kind of natural beauty that shows up in the screensavers of Apple products. The Instagram world is stark raving mad over Plitvice Lakes because of its unique system of lakes and waterfalls. A rock climbing and hiking paradise awaits you in Paklenica National Park with views of the Adriatic Sea from your very own mountain summit.
KORNATI NATIONAL PARK SPEED-BOAT AND SPLIT SEA-KAYAKS
The best views of this gorgeous region are often gleaned from the sea. Across two days, we’ll explore the island systems via speedboat and sea-kayak, leaving plenty of time for swimming, snorkeling, and floating otter-style on your back. You are basically a mermaid now and have to deal with mermaid things like schools of fish, coral spottings and island lunches. You poor thing.
Adventure Highlights:
- E-Bike through Croatia’s “Tuscany” tasting Wine, Olive Oil, and Truffles along the way
- Discover charming hilltop medieval towns on the Istria Peninsula
- Truffle Hunt with a local in the forests of Motovun
- Hike the lower and upper falls of the famous Plitvice Lakes National Park
- Soak in sunsets over the Adriatic from beautiful viewpoints
- Climb a Via Ferrata to the summit of Bojin Kuk in Paklenica National Park
- Enjoy the background music of Zadar’s Sea Organ at sunset
- Explore Kornati National Park by speedboat with swimming, snorkeling, and a seafood lunch
- Sea Kayak to a secluded beach off Split with more swimming, snorkeling, and cliff jumping
- Get lost in the narrow streets of Split while enjoying a cone of gelato or a glass of wine
- Kick back in 3-4 Star boutique hotels throughout your adventure with fabulous views that pair well with a cocktail
- Relax with a comprehensive itinerary that makes everything in-between easy.
- Geek out with encouraging and supportive Explorer Chicks on a private, women-only, small group adventure tour.
See the website for full details and to book.
https://explorerchick.com/adventures/womens-croatia-hiking-national-parks-and-multisport-adventure-tour/Say Hello 👋
💻 Website: https://explorerchick.com/
📧 Email: hello@explorerchick.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/
❤️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/
👯♀️ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick
🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick2 attendees
Yellowstone Hiking and More with Grand Teton
Location not specified yetExplore the mountains, wildlife, thermals, hot springs and geysers of Wyoming on our 7-day Yellowstone Hiking and More with Grand Teton adventure! Cue the goosebumps as the SHE-nanigan Shuttle passes below the Roosevelt Arch inscription: For the benefit of the people. Preach, Teddy!
EPIC YELLOWSTONE TOUR, EXPLORER CHICK STYLE
Welcome to the world’s first-ever national park, where you’ll go deeper than a highlight tour to see ALL of Yellowstone’s stupid-pretty glory. This means exploring by foot, shuttle, horseback, raft, cliff, backstroke – and maybe that Lord of the Rings eagle.LAMAR VALLEY
Blow up your photo roll tracking Lamar Valley wildlife on and off trail as the sun creeps up. Our local wilderness guide leads the way as we break out the scopes searching for wolves, grizzly bears, bison, pronghorn, badgers, bald eagles, osprey, deer, and coyotes—who knows what we might see?GEYSERS, THERMALS, AND HOT SPRINGS – HELL YES!
Spend an entire day chasing enough geothermal beauty to create an entire gallery wall in your house. Catch Old Faithful being a total diva. Rise above the tourists for an osprey’s view of Grand Prismatic Spring. Soak and soothe your amazing muscles in heavenly hot springs.YELLOWSTONE + GRAND TETON HIKING
Gaze into the Grand Canyon in search of rainbows from Artist’s Point in the South Rim. Scramble up talus slopes to the top of Avalanche peak for an eye-full of the Grand Tetons – 50 miles away! Enter Grand Teton National Park for an all-time favorite hike up Cascade Canyon. Keep your peepers peeled for moose! You’ll be surrounded by towering mountains and will start to feel part-marmot. Slap an inspirational quote on your Insta post before splashing with your new besties in a cold mountain lake.BEST OF YELLOWSTONE TOUR ACCOMMODATIONS
You’ll get plenty of chill time in our cozy inn (first three nights) in the small town of Gardiner, followed by a Yellowstone National Park hotel (next two nights). End your girls’ trip in a hotel nestled in the heart of Jackson with plenty of time to shop and throwback shots.See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.
https://explorerchick.com/adventures/yellowstone-tour-grand-teton-hiking/
Say Hello 👋
💻 Website: https://explorerchick.com/
📧 Email: hello@explorerchick.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/
❤️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/
👯♀️ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick
🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick1 attendee
Great Smoky Mountains Hiking and Glamping Weekend
Location not specified yetJoin us on our Great Smoky Mountains Hiking & Glamping Weekend for women only! Enjoy four days of sweeping mountain vistas, a private whiskey tour, forest hikes, and more. Spend a long weekend with a small group of women hiking the best trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (including parts of the Appalachian Trail). Luxuriate with nightly glamping near Gatlinburg, TN.
Your hiking adventure has been carefully (obsessively?) curated by the Explorer Chick team over countless in-field tests. Only our top treks make the itinerary. Prepare to be challenged on the trail and rewarded with the most OMFG-level mountain views and waterfalls.
GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS HIKING
Stride through sweet-smelling pine forests to reach sweeping panoramic vistas with a girl gang you’d trust more than Paul Bunyan. Climb to only one of three remaining fire towers in the National Park when you embark on the strenuous trek up Mt. Cammerer. You can take it “easy” on a moderate hike to the park’s highest single-drop waterfall, Rainbow Falls. Then, inch out to a bald rock outcropping on Charlie’s Bunion to get your heart hammered by mountain scenery in every direction. Walk in the foot path of thousands of Appalachian Trail thru hikers that have come before you on two hikes. Your Insta feed won’t know what hit it. Yes, this is real life with WILD women.
WHISKEY TOUR
Of course, what’s a trip to Tennessee without whiskey? You’ll spend a few hours on an exclusive, private tour with our local guide visiting distilleries on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Go behind the scenes at a real working still house and see how everything is made start to finish. Learn the history of whiskey throughout the Prohibition era, the state’s romance with whiskey, and why these mountains were such an integral part of moonshine culture.
GLAMPING
Each night, put your feet up in total Pinterest-worthy digs at our adorable glamping site minutes from Gatlinburg. You will sleep in a tent that has been tastefully decorated and luxuriously appointed with WiFi and temperature control – with meals freshly prepared at camp by your Explorer Chick guides. You only have one task after hiking: RELAX.
It’s a wonderfully wild weekend with a small group of women hiking the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over the course of the long weekend, you’ll quickly grow close with your posse of Explorer Chicks as you hike the trails and share memories of summits.
See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.
https://explorerchick.com/adventures/smoky-mountains-hiking-and-glamping/
Say Hello 👋
💻 Website: https://explorerchick.com/
📧 Email: hello@explorerchick.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/
❤️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/
👯♀️ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick
🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick2 attendees
Machu Picchu Hiking, Biking, and Rafting Adventure
Peru, PEActivate messy bun mode because you’re gonna be movin’ through Peru with whitewater rafting, cycling, and hiking followed by 2 back to back days visiting Machu freaking Picchu magic. CHILLS!
Acclimatizing isn’t code for watching Frasier reruns in the hotel. During our first couple days, we’ll explore ancient ruins, landmarks, and museums of Cusco and the Sacred Valley on private tours. We’ll feast our eyes on Cusco Cathedral, the Inca Museum, Pisac, Awanacancha, and Sacsayhuaman. And we’ll be treated to all the hot goss on Incan Culture thanks to our private guide. Along the way, we’ll have a few sneaky surprises and special moments that will leave you moved by the spirituality and kindness of the Quechua culture.
Your multisport journey begins on Day 3 of your trip. You’ll bike that booty to Maras and Moray. Oh, AND whitewater raft down one of the most scenic portions of the Urubamba River. Um, AND hike up to a lesser-known archeological site. After, you’ll wander down to Ollantaytambo where you’ll fill your belly with a traditional Quechan lunch. Same old weekday, right?
And then MACHU PICCHU – Not once, But TWICE! It’s just too spectacular for one short bus tour. You and your fellow Explorer Chicks are going to Machu Picchu twice AND in style via the Vistadome Train. During your first visit, you’ll get to know the history of the citadel with a 2-hour guided tour that’s light on hiking. The next day, you’ll hike Huayna Picchu, the mountain that sits right behind the citadel. You’ll have extra time to explore the ancient site and soak up all the juicy history thanks to our local guides. Yes, there will be Machu Picchu Glamour Shots.
Optional Rainbow Mountain Extension: Hike deep into the spectacular painted hills, known as Vinicunca. The Red Valley will blow you away with striking collisions of green and red. Press on through the altitude and muster every ounce of grit you’ve got to reach Rainbow Mountain (think: Little Foot when he reaches the Sun Valley). You’ll be rewarded with an insane summit surrounded by glaciated peaks, wild desert landscapes, herds of alpaca, and WILD WOMEN!
See the website for full itinerary, details and to book.
https://explorerchick.com/trip/machu-picchu-hiking-biking-and-rafting-adventure/
Say Hello 👋
💻 Website: https://explorerchick.com/
📧 Email: hello@explorerchick.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explorerchickadventureco/
❤️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExplorerChickAdventureCo/
👯♀️ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareexplorerchick
🎥 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@explorerchick1 attendee
Past events
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