Explorer Chicks of Kansas City

Experience hiking in Scotland among the unspoiled landscapes of the Scottish Highlands with this unforgettable, women-only tour. Say Fàilte to gorgeous, WILD Scotland! Experience challenging hikes in vast landscapes, rocky coastlines, and secluded mountains with ancient wind in your hair. Our tour of the North-West Highlands (a UNESCO Global GeoPark) is the perfect blend of culture, food, adventure, historic castles, and Mum Nature.

SCENIC TRAIN RIDE THROUGH CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK

First, enjoy a scenic train ride from Edinburgh through Cairngorms National Park to Inverness before taking our private Explorer Chick transport deep into the North-West Highlands. Gasp as you roll past rugged landscapes, sparsely populated villages, imposing peaks that erupt from the ground, and thousands of lochs in every direction. BRING A POPSOCKET FOR YOUR PHONE PHOTO-THON.

DAY HIKES IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Each day, you’ll embark on hikes to explore everything this secluded paradise has to offer. Tick off your first Munro at 3,218 feet with a bird’s eye view of the Torridon Mountains below. Scramble up remote peaks of the Assynt region passing numerous lochs to gain the summit. Feeling acrach? (That’s Scottish Gaelic for “hungry”.) Picnic on rugged coastline cliffs while savoring pies and sipping on whiskey and gin from a local distillery.

MEDIEVAL VILLAGES, LOCAL PUBS, AND LIVE MUSIC

You won’t just be hiking in Scotland on this trip! Experience some of the history and traditions that keep this country on everyone’s travel bucket list. Sheep and cows will roam around you as you meander through remote villages and 16th century castle ruins, living out all your Brave and Outlander fantasies. (Well—some of those Outlander fantasies we can’t help you out with, Sassenach.) Head out on the town in search of local pubs and live music. All meals are sourced locally following Scottish tradition.

15TH CENTURY CASTLE OVERNIGHT

Each night, we’ll return to cozy, authentic Scottish inns. But we’ve saved the best for last: feasting and sleeping in a 15th century castle luxury hotel—like the Explorer Chick queens we are!

Benvenuti in Italia

This is the trip to Italy that you’ve always dreamed of – the Dolomites, wine, epic sunrises, lakes, and food. Call the craggy Italian Alps sirens home as you explore jaw-dropping trails and impossibly cute mountain villages on this 8-day women’s hiking adventure in northern Italy.

We’ll meet in Venice before heading out for views of stunning glaciers, dramatic spires, and towering vistas complete with secret WWI tunnels. Our debut hike to Tre Cime di Lavaredo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (aka photogenic panty-dropper) where we’ll stay in a luxurious mountain “hut” and eat our body weight in alpine cooking.

You’ll learn how to traverse via-ferrata style as we sling our powerful bodies across vertical rock walls to climb Monte Paterno. From there, we’ll shuttle to the iconic trailheads of Cinque Torri and Puez-Odle Nature Park, where we’ll spend the night sleeping in an authentic family-run hut high up in the mountains where even Starbucks can’t reach.

Also, no, you don’t have to hulk your beefy Samsonite up the mountains. Throughout your adventure, you only have to sherpa your daypack. We’ll shuttle your main luggage from hut to hotel since you’ll have your hands full moonlighting for National Geographic.

We’ll have down time in villages that can only be described as bucolic AF––including Cortina d’Ampezzo, Corvara, Ortisei, and the stunning South Tyrol wine region which we’ll explore by e-bike. Amidst all the hiking, including an epic sunrise climb, we’ll build in time for slow mornings and plenty of relaxing. There’ll be wine tastings, an alpine spa visit, a hands-on Italian cooking class, and epic sailing on Lake Garda. Did you just become the most interesting woman on the school board? Yes, you did!

Hit your bucket list with all the feels on this women’s guided hiking and backpacking weekend! During your Yosemite Half Dome Hike adventure, tour Yosemite National Park as you climb the famous cables of Half Dome with ladies who do their own stunts. Live out every last one of those John Muir nature quotes in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park. Mountains calling? Check. Between two pines? Check. Walk with nature? Double-check.

GUIDED BACKPACKING IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK BACKCOUNTRY
Romp through the backcountry on a demanding, yet epic backpacking trip. Meet your new woman crushes in the Yosemite Valley as the landscape gives way to mountains, waterfalls, and a piney perfume that’ll make Yankee Candle totally jelly. Mother Nature swiped ALL THE WAY right. Leave the phone on airplane mode to immerse yourself in stunning national park backcountry over the course of four epic days. Climb steep, challenging trails to look down upon the Valley with a panoramic view that includes Mt. Starr King, Half Dome, Nevada Falls, Illilouette Falls, and plenty of ant-sized tourists with tiny selfie sticks.

HALF DOME: HIKING TO THE TOP
Fuel up for the real MVP—the famous cables of Half Dome! Blast that hiker booty (and bring plenty of water) while ascending 500 feet up a .5 mile of steps carved into the rock. Then, the real fun begins. It’s a 400-foot gain up the top of Half Dome with some points at 70%+ grades. Pace your footwork on wooden slabs spaced out on the climb as you get the upper body workout of a lifetime. Worth it? HELL YES!

BACKPACKING EQUIPMENT PROVIDED
Don’t have backpacking equipment, but can Beastmaster the stairs? Perfect. Explorer Chick has you covered with:

• a backpack
• sleeping bag
• sleeping pad
• shared tent

All you need to do is show up for this Yosemite Half Dome Hike to backpack like a boss and get that National Parks bucket list checked.

Ready to take on Alaska, she-wolf?! Explorer Chick is howling over this stunner of a week-long women’s Alaska Hiking, kayaking, and Glacier Tour to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Prince William Sound and the Talkeetna Mountains. Bring your Mukluks, a flask and plenty of Lord Huron. Alaska is gonna swallow your heart whole.

Hike through legit caribou tundra in the Talkeetna Mountains. Fly over volcanic mountains before wandering America’s largest National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias, for three days. Stay in a friggen ghost town near the base of yet another glacier and shame every lame tampon sport commercial as you ice climb a glacier.

Water proof your phone for all the iceberg selfies while sea kayaking Prince William Sound. Just when you think it can’t get more beautiful, Columbia Glacier will “calve” millions of pounds of ice into the bay like the badass Mama Nature is.

There will be moonshine, ferry rides, wildlife, abandoned mines, ice fields, lodge-cooked meals, nights out on the “town,” coastal national forest, pure Alaska hiking, and more snowy peaks than you can count from the SEVEN mountain ranges you’ll see.

Caw into the cold air and Alaska will echo back. You’re about to fall hard for this wild world that gives America its midnight sun.