A leaf sits pinned between a rock and the flowing waters of a Kisatchie National Forest stream. The 600,000-acre (242,812-hectare) forest boasts seemingly endless stands of longleaf pines and is home to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, whose designated nest trees are identifiable by the white band painted around their trunks.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic Book Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways, 1994)