The Home Base

Heyyy, I’m Mandy a.k.a. Veggie!

I’ve been thru-hiking since 2008, and I met my partner Karma on the CDT in 2015. We thrive outside–in a tent, in a van, or just out and about.

Go Hiking – Beta, Reviews, & Tips

Welcome hiker trash, van lifers, and nature explorers!

This is a place for those who love nature-based adventure travel. 🏕️ ⛰️ 🌵🌼 🚐

I’ve always kept journals since I was a kid. That never stopped when I went hiking. I started this blog to share more about that journal, as well as the plants and wildlife Karma and I saw while exploring.

Then, as things go, it became a little bit of all the adventures. The blog went from just the journal to distilling my hiking and van life experiences into blog posts to help get others outside.

Our hiking resumes

Learn Something New

How We Built Our Ford Transit Van

In 2021, we took 8 months to build out our dream van. Previously, in between seasonal jobs, we lived out of a van we bought on Craigslist and built out in 14 days.

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Flip through my journal

Nature Journal Pages

After spending so much time outside, I found myself wanting to add a deeper layer of understanding. For me, I’ve always needed to write it to learn it. As I dove into plant life, I started seeing them more. And as I started tallying wildlife species, I found myself finding more.

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