The Wonderful World of Completely Random Facts — Issue 65

Atlantic Creek flows to the left, and Pacific Creek flows to the right (USGS)

Pick An Ocean

The Continental Divide of North America separates the major watersheds that flow to the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico, and it runs from Alaska through the Rockies and into Mexico. Rainfall that drops on the west side of the divide will make its way to the Pacific, and rainfall on the east side will run to the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

In some places, the divide can be clearly seen separating the watersheds, but in others, it is harder to tell the different sides of the divide. One of those harder-to-see places is in Wyoming near the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It is called the Two Ocean Pass, but it doesn’t have the appearance of a pass at all. Its profile is so low and the water is so gentle that fish can swim across the divide from the Pacific to the Atlantic watershed when the meadow floods in the spring during a wet year. Where they venture farther determines what ocean they might end up in.

The North America Continental Divide (USGS)

Just north of Two Ocean Pass is the Parting of the Waters, which is a spot where the North Two Ocean Creek branches…