The upper Meander Canyon reach extends for 12 km from Bkm 78 near the south end of Pyramid Butte to Bkm 90 at the mouth of Shafer Canyon. This meandering canyon trends generally east-west across broadly-folded, sub-horizontal strata of the Honaker Trail Fm and Cutler Fm (locally capped by the arkosic facies of the Cutler Fm). The canyon is generally symmetric in cross-profile, 520 to 915 m wide and 75 to 150 m deep. The average gradient along this reach and throughout Meander Canyon from Pyramid Butte to Cataract Canyon is approximately 0.02%. This gradient is the lowest defined by this project.
Shrubs dominate the vegetative cover in this reach: tamarisk (22%), willow (10%), native xeric shrubs (7%), and desert olive (3%). Native riparian trees are very rare, making up less than a half percent of the bottomland area, combined. Ownership is State (64%) and BLM (36%) with no private holdings.
