The Cisco Wash to Dry Gulch reach begins near the mouth of Dry Gulch (at the downstream end of Cisco Landing reach – Bkm193) and extends 10 km to the upstream limits of McGraw Bottom at the point where Cisco Wash becomes a yazoo stream (running parallel to the Colorado channel - about 1.6 river km upstream of the mouth of Cisco Wash). This reach flows within a transverse valley that cuts across the axis of the northwest plunging syncline that bounds the southwest flank of Uncompahgre Uplift. This valley cuts across gently dipping strata of the Morrison, Dakota, Cedar Mountain and Mancos formations, and its character is largely controlled by the lithology and structure of these geologic formations. The valley is straight to moderately sinuous (average sinuosity 1.3), shallow (60 to 110 m deep), and variable in width (370 to 760 m wide). The average river gradient of this reach is very similar to the Cisco Landing reach - 0.05%.
Vegetation is a mix of tamarisk (27%) and cottonwood (14%) with smaller portions of willow (9%) and sumac (5%) in nearer channel areas and xeric shrubs (8%) at the distal portions of the bottomland. Geomorphology is relatively active, with secondary channels available for fish use. Ownership is primarily State (69%) with some BLM (26%) and very little private (5%).
