I recently read the book "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. The book is about him hiking the Appalachian Trail. He talks about discovering American, but he also talks about some of the perils of the woods in the Appalachians. Among his biggest fears: Bears.
"Black bears rarely attack. But here's the thing. Sometimes they do. All bears are agile, cunning and immensely strong, and the are always hungry. If they want to kill you and eat you, they can, and pretty much whenever they want. That doesn't happen often, but - and here is the absolutely salient point - once would be enough.Arkansas has black bears in the woods and while they are not common (and bear attacks are very, very uncommon), a question I often get is "how do I avoid bears?" Seems like many of you are on the same page as Bill Bryson.
The best thing to do is avoid bears all together by keeping your campsite clean and tidy. However, if you do see them, they say you should make a lot of noise and walk in the other direction. Bill Bryson makes humorous remarks about this method, and decides you're probably going to die whatever you do. That's not completely true, but don't test your luck!
Overall, the Arkansas woods are very safe, but you can read more about avoiding bears, insects, venomous snakes and other dangers here.
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