The Pascagoula River is the grand waterway of southeast Mississippi and is already sizeable when it officially begins at the juncture of the Leaf and Chickasawhay Rivers. It is a remarkably wild river, bordered for most of its length by the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area and the Ward Bayou Wildlife Management Area with several other wildlife areas flanking these and filling the area for miles. On this stretch the Pascagoula retains elements of hill country, with high bluffs, pine trees, and only intermittent swamps and bayous among the big, beautiful sandbars.