I saw it Saturday night, too, and pretty much agree: a pretty good buddy movie (especially since the buddies are my contemporaries), but not really about backpacking or the AT. I liked the movie better than the book.

Did you notice their packs? They carried hiking poles lashed to their packs the entire time. If they had taken them off, they might not have fallen into the creek. Somewhere, when seeing all the other hikers in the movie using them, one would have thought that a light bulb would have gone off. Just saying...

I was also glad to see that the grizzly bear is making a comeback east of the Mississippi. Somehow, I missed that story on the news.

On the other hand, they got a couple of things right: the shelter scene looked about right (not sure, but was that shelter in the Grayson Highlands? It looked familiar.) And, who among us has not met Mary Ellen?

All in all, better than most movies which, as Gord said, are pretty much trash. Of course, there is a silver lining to the current state of the cinema: I don't get to eat nearly as much movie popcorn as I would like, since we only go to about 2 or 3 a year - I guess that counts as a health benefit?