It is one half mile downstream from the Butte Creek canyon mouth on an alluvial apron.

The town is the largest in Surprise Valley, and is located on the alluvial apron at the mouth of Cedar Canyon, at the eastern base of the Warner Mountains, near the western shore of Middle Alkali Lake.

It consists of an alluvial apron formed by the Talgar River, extending northwards from the glacier peaks of the Zaiilisky Alatau (topped by Talgar Peak, 4,973 m), an extension of the northern flanks of the Tien Shan Mountains.