Last March, Brit Reddit user pieonthetrail left his cushy job in Finland to go an adventure halfway across the world. With only $6,000 dollars in his pocket to last the entire trip, he booked a flight to Atlanta, Ga.

He wasn’t sure if or when he would ever have a job again, but he knew he had to do it. As a seasoned hiker, the Appalachian Trail was calling him, beckoning him to risk it all for an experience of a lifetime.

In September, he concluded his six month journey hiking 2,189 miles from Georgia to Maine (amazingly with only three total blisters on his feet). He hiked what is considered to be one of the longest foot trails in the world, encountering bears, rattlesnakes, and even a freakin’ FBI fugitive along the path.

The user tells the Reddit travel community that he started his journey alone. He was lucky enough to meet two random guys at the start of the trip who hiked with him for the entire duration of the trail.

“The community on the trail is so awesome, you meet people who will become friends for life,” he says.

In case you’re wondering if this community is a boys-only club, he mentions meeting several solo women travelers–young and old—along the way. “The Appalachian Trail is really a safe place,” pieonthetrail shares.

In fact, hiker hospitality is so great that there’s even a word for it: trail magic.

“This is where people set up at a trail/road crossing and give food and drinks to Thru Hikers,” pieonthetrail explains. “They’re often former Thru Hikers that want to give something back.”

One day, he encountered one particularly memorable hiker that stood out from all the rest: an FBI fugitive called “Bismark.”

Bismark had been on the run for six whopping years after he was charged with embezzling millions of dollars from his former employer. He just so happened to chose the Appalachian trail as his hiding spot, becoming an integral member of the hiker community.

It turns out, the fugitive wasn’t a such a scary guy.

One of his greatest experiences, however, was encountering a family of bears:

It wasn’t an easy trip by any means. Some days, pieonthetrail shares that he would be constantly hungry and tired, craving a shower and a hotel room. But it was the type of trip that changes a person, which is worth a hell lot more than a “normal” vacation at a fancy resort: