The canyon runs along the Humboldt River roughly between State Route 278 upstream (about 7.5 miles [12.1 km] south–southwest of Carlin), and a point about 8 miles (13 km) west of Beowawe and State Route 306 downstream (about 32 miles [51 km] east–southeast of Battle Mountain).[2]
The Humboldt River, rather than flowing into the ocean, eventually loses all its water to evaporation in the Humboldt Sink, and stream-gauge measurements undertaken by the United States Geological Survey suggest that Palisade Canyon is the point where the river's flow ceases to increase and begins to decrease.[3]
