In the end, Bryson is happy to have discovered a newfound appreciation for the simple comforts of everyday life (such as showers), which he used to take for granted until he lived without them.Redford, who is also a producer, initially planned on reteaming with buddy Paul Newman a decade or so ago when he began to piece together this project based on Bill Bryson’s humor-filled 1998 account of his misadventures while hiking the 2,180-mile Appalachian Trail. Neither of them fully learns to love being in the wilderness, and they end up quitting the Trail altogether. Bryson also absorbs the ethos of kindness and consideration that hikers seem to share on the trail, and this helps him develop more patience with his Katz, who really struggles with hiking. Despite his irrational fear of wild animals, Bryson concludes that humans are actually the biggest dangers in the wild, since we treat Appalachia’s ecosystem so carelessly. It disappoints him that preservation efforts don’t seem to be much of a priority among the organizations that look after the nation’s woodlands. Despite his dissatisfaction with the overall experience, Bryson develops a healthy respect for the woods, and he bemoans the destruction of the landscape by loggers. In the end, neither scenario satisfies him-he wishes he could find something closer to experiences in Europe, where walking is far more popular as a pastime than driving is. Bryson tackles some of the Trail by hiking with his friend Stephen Katz, and he traverses the rest by car. He’s terrified of bear attacks, and he's disappointed to find the areas surrounding the Trail seem to be entirely comprised of highways and strip malls. However, Bryson soon learns that hiking on the Trail is far more punishing: the terrain is challenging and dangerous, and the slog is tiresome. Before departing on his trip, Bryson imagines that the trip will be like hiking in Europe, where people commonly go for long walks in the countryside and then relax in a country inn. He decides to hike the Appalachian Trail to get reacquainted with his homeland.

At the start of the story, Bryson has just returned to the United States after living abroad in Europe for years. Bill Bryson is the memoir’s author, narrator, and central character.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson