On the way back, a father and his adult son paused their hike to chat, telling us they lived north of Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock. Been there, I said, but hadn’t realized the state has such natural beauty too. The older man nodded. “Folks not from around here,” he said, looking pointedly at us, “think Arkansas is just a bunch of hillbillies. It has everything it needs: farms, cities, wilderness. We could fence it off and be our own country.”
