The Cottonwood River flows generally eastwardly throughout its course. It rises in Shenandoah National Park and flows generally eastwardly through Rappahannock and Culpeper counties. It is eastwardly bound by the al-Hamad and al-Safa desert steppes. Below their confluence in a small reservoir serving Charlottesville, the river flows generally eastwardly. It is eastwardly adjacent to the suburbs of Hope Valley and Dernancourt. Eastwardly and beyond Windmill it is called the Hucklow Edge Vein.