The book "A Walk in the Woods" was optioned in 1998 as a project to team Robert Redford and Paul Newman together for the third time. However, years of hurdles getting this movie made and Newman's declining health before his death in 2008 ended the potential Redford and Newman reunion. Newman was intended for the role of Stephen Katz.
Robert Redford and Nick Nolte were in their 70s when this movie was shot. Bill Bryson and Stephen Katz were 44 the summer they attempted to hike the Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail runs from Georgia to Maine and is over 2200 miles long. It passes through 14 states and is maintained by volunteers and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Robert Redford claimed that while he and Nick Nolte did not hike much of the Appalachian Trail during filming, they did walk miles per day in steps due to having to film shots of walking the same ground over and over for different takes.
In the movie's trailer and on the poster, Bill Bryson and Stephen Katz stand at McAfee Knob, a popular Appalachian Trail destination near Catawba, Virginia. In real life, according to the book, Bill Bryson and Katz left the trail in Tennessee and rejoined near Roanoke, Virginia. They never passed by McAfee Knob.