The highest sources of the Little River are at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet (610 m) in southwestern Le Flore County, Oklahoma in the Ouachita Mountains.

[5] The Little River originates in the Ouachita mountains, the most humid part of Oklahoma receiving up to 60 inches (1,500 mm) of precipitation annually.

At Pine Creek Lake the river issues from the highlands and thereafter flows through a low, swampy floodplain.

[6] The Honobia Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) of 80,316 acres (32,503 ha) includes much of the upper course of the Little River within its boundaries.

Sport fishes include Flathead catfish, Largemouth and Smallmouth bass, Green sunfish, and Chain Pickerel.

This lower section of the river is characterized by swamps, sloughs, oxbow lakes and a seasonally-flooded bottomland hardwood forest.