Explorer Chicks of Baltimore

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!

### Exploration, Exhilaration, And Eleanor!

Get ready for non-stop whiffs of sweet pine as you hike the startingly beautiful coastlines of Maine and Acadia National Park. This 7-day women’s trip takes you far away from a world where everyone needs you… and it includes a sneaky visit into Canada.
It all starts in Portland, Maine where we rendezvous, exchange bff necklaces, and hop in the SHE-nanigan Shuttle to our first hike… which is THE best hike. We’ll scale the famous iron rungs of The Beehive, peer into the crystal-clear waters of Bowl Pond, and gape at stunning shoreline cliffs as we explore Gorham Mountain and Sand Beach.

Next we’ll scramble the summits of The Bubbles, eat our body weight in seafood in Bar Harbor, and spend an entire day exploring Acadia via sea kayak. Bald eagles, porpoises, otters, and seals send their love and may even pose for a photo thanks to the glorious nature freaks leading our aqua-safari. We’ll tiptoe into the quietside of Acadia, where crowds never reach. And you’ll get your unmissable photo of Somesville Bridge, dammit!

At the end of each day, you’ll rest your gorgeous head at our epic Glampsite. Enjoy real beds, ensuite bathrooms, hot showers, good coffee, and the best laughs of your life. Leave the cooking and the backcountry picnics to us.

When we leave our Glampsite after four nights, we’ll enjoy one more hike along the Bold Coast Trail, brimming with badass drop-offs and gorgeous views of the Bay of Maine. We’ll break for beers and battered cod in the darling seaside town of Lubec, Maine. And then we’ll whip out our passports to casually cross into Canada like it’s another Tuesday.

This is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. For two nights, we’ll stay in a historic cottage and working museum inside Roosevelt Campobello International Park, the grounds where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s magnificent summer home is preserved! Fangirl over Eleanor, one of the OG feminists and human rights activists, as we explore the places she called home and even enjoy afternoon tea in her honor. So much First Lady energy!

We’ll sneak in a sunrise lighthouse hike and explore more of the epic shoreline of New Brunswick before our last East Coast supper. Can we change our names and stay here foreverrrr?

OVERVIEW

Are you into endless views? Old-growth forests? Mist bouncing off a 100-foot waterfall hitting your face? Then 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).

Channel your inner goat girl as you stroll through iconic scenery and listen to stories of the women who helped shape the Smokies. Take a brief break from the trail living out your pottery fantasies throwing clay on the wheel and sculpting your very own mug. Then kick back like a queen with nightly glamping near Gatlinburg, TN.

BOOTS = HIKING

Get your blues and greens in on three stunning hikes that don’t even look real. The views from Charlies Bunion and Ramsay Cascades are complete madness. Wind your way through pine trees and over classic creek crossings that make you momentarily consider a coonskin hat. (But not really, because animals ♥️)

ROOTS = HER-STORY

Did you know a woman was the first settler to move to the Smoky Mountains? You didn’t? That’s because Martha Jane Huskey Ogle’s husband called dibs on the fame. Learn about the deliciously woman-heavy history of a wilderness that man tried real hard to claim as his own. Your Explorer Chick guide will drop all the juicy gossip, connecting you to the goosebumpy sisterhood who walked before you.
Deep dive into Appalachian crafts straddling a wheel and molding a coffee mug with your very own hands. Local artists will guide you through the entire pottery process and only help when needed. After 10 weeks of drying, firing, and glazing, your mug will show up at your doorstep. Surprise! Relive the SHE-nanigans of your Smokies trip.

YOU FEELING MAX COMFY WHILE GLAMPING

Put your feet up in total Insta-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.

ADVENTURE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Hike the Appalachian Trail to the sweeping panaromic views from Charlies Bunion
• Get up close and personal with the Smokies tallest waterfall, Ramsey Cascades
• Learn how to work clay on a wheel as you create your one of a kind glazed coffee mug
• Kick back at camp with breakfasts and dinners cooked by your Explorer Chick guides.
• Sleep easy at our Glamping site with canvas tents outfitted with all the creature comforts.
• Relax with a comprehensive itinerary that makes the logistics, transportation, navigation, meal planning, lodging, and everything between easy.
• Geek out with supportive and encouraging Explorer Chicks on a private, women-only, small group adventure tour.

This life-changing, 4-day women’s Yosemite hiking adventure will give you jaw-dropping views of granite mountains, wide-open meadows, and ancient Sequoia trees. Maybe this trip is what your boss means when they demand leaving no stone unturned? Set that out of office and buy the hiking leggings with the deep pockets because your girl gang is WAITING FOR YOU.

With your new besties beside you and our professional guides showing you the good pee spots, we’ll explore the best Yosemite peaks and valleys in this crazy-beautiful playground. By day, we’ll clamber up towering domes and stroll through lush valleys. By nightfall, we’ll laugh until we can’t breathe and fall asleep smiling, snuggled up in our cozy cabins.

Enjoy a Google Earth view of Yosemite Valley from the top of Taft Point. Hike through a grove of forever-old Jeffrey Pines to summit Sentinel Dome. Feast on the panoramic majesty of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, and Glacier Point. Seriously, this is your life right now, and you are HERE!

Hiking the famous Mist Trail will lead us through pristine wilderness to the deafening roar of Vernal and Nevada Falls. You’ll forget an entire household depends on you as you dash through the heart of Yosemite’s High Sierra meadows, taking a lunch break by a diamond-clear lake, surrounded by the towering granite peaks of the Cathedral Range.
We’ll cross wooden footbridges and babbling streams to stand inside a cathedral of trees, where sequoias stand like ancient sentinels. These living legends have names, personalities, and GOSSIP. You’ll meet Grizzly Giant, The Bachelor, Three Graces, and The Faithful Couple. (Or so they claim…)

Your only mission after the day’s Yosemite hike – eating, sleeping, and cackling with your new friends. No, you can’t help us with dishes. Yes, you can have seconds. Enjoy the feral highs of traveling with adult women who love and accept you just as you are.