Man quits $100,000 job to walk

Joel Bivens gave up working for walking.

Since quitting a $100,000 a-year-job in the Los Angeles banking industry five years ago, Bivens has hiked 11,500 miles throughout the United States and Europe. Among his adventures were a 3,600-mile, eight-month hike from Bulgaria’s Black Sea to Spain’s Atlantic Ocean and a 2,650-mile, four-month hike from Mexico to Canada.

A man of little means who lives from a backpack, the 44-year-old has stayed at hostels, mountain and shepherd huts, monasteries, acquaintances’ homes, and of course, his tent.

Avoiding roads as much as possible, Bivens has gone up to two days without seeing another person. He’s gone up to two weeks without a shower.

While making a recent stop in Boundary County, he said he has yet to go on that really big adventure.

“There’s a lot of other journeys I want to take,” Bivens said.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bivens in 2003 quit his job, gave up his apartment and donated his 1989 Honda Civic to the National Kidney Foundation.

“I was making good money with the bank, but I wanted to do a long walk,” he said.

Bivens vowed to walk on trails as much as possible.

Bivens’ initial “walk” from Stockholm, Sweden, was short-lived. He slipped on a wet trail and fractured his ankle.

As he recuperated, Bivens took the train to Bulgaria and then traveled to Turkey before beginning his 3,600-mile hike across Europe in April 2004. That walk took him from Bulgaria to Romania, Hungry, to the top of the Alps in Austria, Switzerland, France and Spain.

“It was very emotionally difficult,” Bivens said. “It was so long that it hadn’t become a trip, but my life.”

Upon completing the hike, the bank asked him to return to Los Angeles for a year. Bivens was offered $120,000.

“They paid me more than before, but I wasn’t happy,” he said. “It was a super good salary, but I had it in my mind to take off again.”

So, after one year, he left his job and his barely furnished studio apartment to hike 1,200 miles through parts of Europe. He then hit the Pacific Coast Trail in April 2007.

Bivens started in San Diego. It took him nearly a month to cross the Mohave Desert, where it reached 115 to 120 degrees almost daily. While traversing the High Sierras, Bivens came within reach of Mt. Whitney; the 14,500-foot high peak is the highest in the contiguous United States.

After completing the 2,650-mile hike in September 2007, Bivens wasn’t done.

“I felt like it was too short of a walk,” he said.

So he flew to Bangor, Maine, to hike a 500-mile portion of the Appalachian Trail, a 2,175-mile trail that connects Maine with Georgia.

Over the most recent winter, Bivens did a “short” hike — 800 miles of the Arizona Trail, which crosses Mexico and goes to Utah.

For this summer, he planned to hike from Glacier National Park in Montana to Mexico. Snow made it difficult, so he switched gears with a hike from Glacier to the West Coast. That’s how Bivens got to Bonners Ferry.

His next “project” may be the American Discover Trail, a 6,800-mile coast to coast trail.