# A Walk in the Woods (book)
**A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail** is a 1998 nonfiction travel book by the American writer [Bill Bryson](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-bryson), recounting his comic and partly unsuccessful attempt to hike the [Appalachian Trail](https://www.edgepedia.org/appalachian-trail) with his friend Stephen Katz.[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/) Bryson had returned to the United States after twenty years in Britain and chose the roughly 2,100-mile trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine, as a way of reacquainting himself with his native country.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) The book became a New York Times bestseller and is described by its publisher as a modern classic of travel literature.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title | *A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail*[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/) |
| Author | Bill Bryson, an American journalist and author[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) • [3](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/books-on-the-trail-of-a-lonesome-gag-1292739.html) |
| First publication | May 4, 1998, Broadway Books, hardcover, 288 pages[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/) |
| Subject | Bryson's 1996 attempt to hike the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail with Stephen Katz[4](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-walk-in-the-woods) • [2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) |
| Distance covered | "800-plus out of the 2,100-plus miles," in Bryson's own words quoted by Kirkus Reviews[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/) |
| Adaptation | 2015 feature film starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte[5](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/a-walk-in-the-woods-review-robert-redford-bill-bryson) |
| Later editions | Paperback May 4, 1999 (304 pages); Folio Society illustrated edition, May 17, 2022[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) • [6](https://www.foliosociety.com/row/a-walk-in-the-woods.html) |
## The hike and the narrative
Bryson discovered that the Appalachian Trail passed close to his home in [New Hampshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-hampshire) and, despite having little hiking experience, decided to walk it.[7](https://www.travelreads.com/best-travel-books/a-walk-in-the-woods) His companion was Stephen Katz, a friend from Iowa; a later account of the book's factual basis identifies Katz as Matthew Angerer, and the hike itself as real.[8](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/is-a-walk-in-the-woods-a-true-story-the-real-hike-explained/) • [2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) The two men are the book's central double act: Katz appears as out-of-shape and cranky, and Publishers Weekly called the uneasy but entertaining relationship between the two the thread that keeps the walk interesting.[9](https://www2.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7679-0251-9)
The walk is incomplete, and the book says so. Bryson himself stated, "Walking is what we did": 800-plus of the 2,100-plus miles, and [Kirkus Reviews](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirkus-reviews) judged that sliver of the journey "sheer comic travel entertainment."[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/) A reviewer for The Independent described it as the story of Bryson's failed attempt, giving up after 500 miles.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/books-on-the-trail-of-a-lonesome-gag-1292739.html) One trade review reached the opposite conclusion: Publishers Weekly wrote that "Bryson completes the trail as planned," a claim inconsistent with the book's own account and with other reviews.[9](https://www2.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7679-0251-9)
The narrative alternates between comic episodes on the trail and substantial digressions. Bryson recounts the history and ecology of the trail and makes a plea for the conservation of what his publisher calls America's last great wilderness.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) Kirkus noted his natural-history detail, from jack-o-lantern mushrooms to the devastation of chestnut blight, alongside trail history and local trivia.[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/)
## The trail in history
The book's historical sections recount the founding of the trail itself. In 1921 Benton MacKaye, a U.S. Labor Department worker, envisioned the Appalachian Trail as a way for urban workers to reconnect with nature; in 1925 several hiking clubs joined to plan a 1,200-mile route, and the lawyer and hiker Myron Avery took over construction in 1930, extending the route to 2,000 miles, which was completed with voluntary labor by 1937.[10](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-walk-in-the-woods/chapter-3) According to the [Appalachian Trail Conservancy](https://www.edgepedia.org/appalachian-trail-conservancy), the trail was completed as a continuous route between Maine and Georgia in 1937, and the Appalachian Trailway Agreement of 1938 created a safeguarded land corridor extending 100 feet to each side of the trail across national forest and park territory.[11](https://appalachiantrail.org/about/atc-history/)
## Reception
Critical response was largely favorable. The Washington Post called it "terribly misguided and terribly funny"; [The Boston Globe](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-boston-globe) called it "an almost perfect travel book"; and [The New York Times Book Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-york-times-book-review) praised Bryson as a satirist of the first rank.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) On GoodReads the book holds an average rating of about 4.07 from more than 460,000 ratings.[12](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61115123-a-walk-in-the-woods)
Not all response was warm. The Independent's reviewer judged it far from classic Bryson, complaining of long passages on nature and trail history.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/books-on-the-trail-of-a-lonesome-gag-1292739.html) In The New Yorker, the writer Robert Moor, who has thru-hiked the trail, called it "a delightful little book" while concluding that Bryson did not, in the full sense, hike the Appalachian Trail.[13](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-the-most-popular-hiking-memoirs-dont-go-the-distance) One reviewer's guide sums up the practical caveat: some members of the trail community object to specific statistics and characterizations, making it an unreliable source for precise trail data.[14](https://luvembooks.com/books/travel/a-walk-in-the-woods/review)
## Effect on the trail
**The "Bryson Bump."** The book's popularity led to a significant increase in hikers attempting the Appalachian Trail, a phenomenon known as the "Bryson Bump."[7](https://www.travelreads.com/best-travel-books/a-walk-in-the-woods) The Appalachian Trail Conservancy's own history states that when Bryson published the book, it triggered "an explosion in A.T. interest," in the period after Congress appropriated $15.1 million in 1998 for trail land acquisition.[11](https://appalachiantrail.org/about/atc-history/) Traffic figures show the longer trend the book joined: more than 830 people completed the full 2,189-mile hike in 2014, up from 182 in 1990, according to the Conservancy, and the number of registered long-distance hikers at Baxter State Park grew from 359 in 1991 to more than 2,000 in 2014.[15](https://time.com/4016350/appalachian-trail-hiking-partying/) Expectations of further growth accompanied the release of the film adaptation in 2015.[15](https://time.com/4016350/appalachian-trail-hiking-partying/)
## Film adaptation
The book was adapted into a 2015 film, *A Walk in the Woods*, starring [Robert Redford](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-redford) as Bryson and [Nick Nolte](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-nolte) as Katz, directed by Ken Kwapis from a screenplay credited to Rick Kerb and Bill Holderman.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/a-walk-in-the-woods-review-robert-redford-bill-bryson) • [16](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-walk-in-woods-review-20150902-story.html) The Los Angeles Times review judged that the film "lost its way"; it was rated R, primarily for language.[16](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-walk-in-woods-review-20150902-story.html) • [17](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2015/09/walk-in-woods/)
## Editions and later life
The book has remained in print across formats: a paperback in 1999 (304 pages), mass-market paperbacks in 2006 (416 pages), an ebook in 2010, and audiobook editions of 6 hours and, unabridged, 9 hours 44 minutes, the latter narrated by Rob McQuay.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/) • [18](https://time.com/5928406/best-comedy-audiobooks/) The Folio Society issued an illustrated edition on May 17, 2022, bound in blocked cloth with illustrations by James Weston Lewis, priced at £60.[6](https://www.foliosociety.com/row/a-walk-in-the-woods.html) GoodReads lists some 180 editions, including a Serbian translation published in 2023.[19](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/613469-a-walk-in-the-woods-rediscovering-america-on-the-appalachian-trail?expanded=false&page=1)
## Other books of the same title
Several unrelated books carry similar titles. *A Walk in the Wood: Meditations on Mindfulness with a Bear Named Pooh* by Joseph Parent and Nancy Parent is a mindfulness guide featuring Winnie the Pooh, published by Hyperion Avenue with a new edition scheduled for August 11, 2026.[20](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727644/a-walk-in-the-wood-by-joseph-parent-nancy-parent/) *A Walk in the Woods* by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, is a 2023 picture book about a grieving boy, named a New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year.[21](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727087/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-nikki-grimes-illustrated-by-jerry-pinkney-and-brian-pinkney/) Daniel Goodger and Lisa Brandenburg published a 2025 picture book of the same title about a boy and his grandfather,[22](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Walk-in-the-Woods/Daniel-Goodger/9798890631206) and Emily Laber-Warren wrote a children's field guide of the same name in 2013.[23](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Walk-in-the-Woods/Emily-Laber-Warren/9781935703266)
## References
1. [A Walk in the Woods, Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1998 issue](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bill-bryson/a-walk-in-the-woods/)
2. [A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, Penguin Random House publisher page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20552/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-bill-bryson/)
3. [Books: On the trail of a lonesome gag, The Independent, November 8, 1997](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/books-on-the-trail-of-a-lonesome-gag-1292739.html)
4. [A Walk in the Woods Study Guide, LitCharts](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-walk-in-the-woods)
5. [A Walk in the Woods review, The Guardian, September 17, 2015](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/a-walk-in-the-woods-review-robert-redford-bill-bryson)
6. [A Walk in the Woods, The Folio Society](https://www.foliosociety.com/row/a-walk-in-the-woods.html)
7. [Review of A Walk in the Woods, Travelreads](https://www.travelreads.com/best-travel-books/a-walk-in-the-woods)
8. [Is A Walk in the Woods a True Story? DocumentaryTube](https://www.documentarytube.com/blog/is-a-walk-in-the-woods-a-true-story-the-real-hike-explained/)
9. [A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Publishers Weekly review, May 4, 1998](https://www2.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7679-0251-9)
10. [A Walk in the Woods Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis, LitCharts](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-walk-in-the-woods/chapter-3)
11. [ATC History, Appalachian Trail Conservancy](https://appalachiantrail.org/about/atc-history/)
12. [A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, GoodReads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61115123-a-walk-in-the-woods)
13. [Why the Most Popular Hiking Memoirs Don't Go the Distance, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-the-most-popular-hiking-memoirs-dont-go-the-distance)
14. [A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson Review, LuvemBooks](https://luvembooks.com/books/travel/a-walk-in-the-woods/review)
15. [Appalachian Trail Partying Angers Longtime Hikers, Time, 2015](https://time.com/4016350/appalachian-trail-hiking-partying/)
16. [Review: How 'A Walk in the Woods' lost its way, Los Angeles Times, 2015](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-walk-in-woods-review-20150902-story.html)
17. [A Walk In The Woods, Christianity Today, 2015](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2015/09/walk-in-woods/)
18. [11 Funny Audiobooks to Lighten the Mood This Dreary Winter, Time](https://time.com/5928406/best-comedy-audiobooks/)
19. [Editions of A Walk in the Woods, GoodReads](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/613469-a-walk-in-the-woods-rediscovering-america-on-the-appalachian-trail?expanded=false&page=1)
20. [A Walk in the Wood by Joseph Parent and Nancy Parent, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727644/a-walk-in-the-wood-by-joseph-parent-nancy-parent/)
21. [A Walk in the Woods by Nikki Grimes, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727087/a-walk-in-the-woods-by-nikki-grimes-illustrated-by-jerry-pinkney-and-brian-pinkney/)
22. [A Walk in the Woods by Daniel Goodger, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Walk-in-the-Woods/Daniel-Goodger/9798890631206)
23. [A Walk in the Woods: Into the Field Guide by Emily Laber-Warren, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Walk-in-the-Woods/Emily-Laber-Warren/9781935703266)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Memoirs, biographies, and literary nonfiction › Memoirs and autobiographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license