The Only River That Flows Into Both the Atlantic and the Pacific

Рет қаралды 1,497,916

9 ай бұрын

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Video written by Amy Muller
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Пікірлер: 818

@dragonridley 9 ай бұрын

Of course, Pacific and Atlantic Creek were named after two cousins, Jason Atlantic and Robert Pacific, who got in an argument over which creek was the best.

@yokcos 9 ай бұрын

little known: Jason Atlantic argued in favour or the Pacific Creek and vice versa. It's not known why the creeks' names were swapped, but the leading hypothesis is that it's the unintended consequence of a rhetorical device used by mr. Atlantic to make his case

@rachebrother5349 9 ай бұрын

Actually his name was Oddly S. Pacific

@NONO-hz4vo 9 ай бұрын

Romulus and Remus had a similar naming kerfuffle that was settled in a less civil manner which led to blood flow into the Mediterranean.

@travisolander4749 8 ай бұрын

If you think that's interesting, you're not gonna believe what Robert California did.

@debbylou5729 8 ай бұрын

I don’t get it. Why is that funny?

@milindbordia 9 ай бұрын

That one fish which accidentally took one wrong turn and is now in a different ocean 👁👄👁

@deivydasbaksa3324 9 ай бұрын

Would not live long due to different salt levels

@payrysdoscs4903 9 ай бұрын

🙃

@sandhilltucker 9 ай бұрын

~pulls out map and carrot~ "Must've taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque.."

@TheWizardous 9 ай бұрын

Lol

@veindrain 9 ай бұрын

@deivydasbaksa3324 very cool comment, I incorrectly thought op was making a funny joke until you corrected them. I'm now equipped to be 34.89% more fun at parties.

@sks2000 9 ай бұрын

@4:10 I learned more about Colorado's water system than 99.9 percent of people against my will. My mom wrote her college thesis on the Colorado water infrastructure used to get water across the Conntental Divide. An entire summer of my childhood was spent looking at various reservoirs, pumping stations, outflowpipes and dams.

@ferretyluv 8 ай бұрын

That honestly sounds pretty fun. You got to play around weirs and dykes and in nature while most kids weren’t allowed to.

@cxzact9204 8 ай бұрын

Your mum sounds really cool.

@sks2000 8 ай бұрын

@ferretyluv Yeah, it was really neat looking back. Even though I was just a board kid at the time, especially because after 9/11, all that stuff was fenced off and locked up away from the public.

@vishalverma 8 ай бұрын

Is this available to read somewhere? I'd love to learn more!

@Dreyno 8 ай бұрын

@@sks2000Bored, not board. Should’ve spent the time learning to spell.

@Leyrann 9 ай бұрын

There's a very interesting case in the Amazon as well. In the rainforest of southern Venezuela, a branch of the Orinoco splits off towards the south. Rather than eventually ending up back in the Orinoco's main flow and reaching the Atlantic Ocean in northeastern Venezuela, this branch flows south, where it merges with the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, and the water from this branch eventually reaches the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil. This connection is actually navigable by ship, and was first discovered in, if I remember correctly, the 17th century. However, the captain who had made this journey was believed to have been mistaken, as no accurate maps were available, and others could not find such a route across the many branching streams of the South American rainforest. Eventually, as the mapping of the continent and it's waterways improved, some two centuries after this original discovery, people realized that yes, it is in fact possible to sail up the Orinoco and come back down to the Atlantic Ocean over the Amazon.

@lolmandos 8 ай бұрын

Yep, when I saw the title and thumbnail I thought "wait, what about the Orinoco?" I'm pretty invested in that one since I found it was a thing by just randomly zooming around in Google Maps (and later looking about it online).

@gangstreG123 8 ай бұрын

So what you mean is that we could sail away on the Orinoco's flow?

@EnormousPurpleGarden 8 ай бұрын

There's also Divide Creek on the border between British Columbia and Alberta that drains into both the Pacific and the Arctic.

@flamencoprof 8 ай бұрын

Does this qualify the mouth of the Orinoco as "the source" of the Amazon? :-)

@eruilluvitar 8 ай бұрын

@@gangstreG123This comment made my day. Time to go listen to some Enya!

@appalachianenthusiast9499 9 ай бұрын

Apologies if you were trying to go from California to Maine without crossing a bridge or waterway, it is impossible

@JaydragonM 9 ай бұрын

So that's why the Canadians dont have to deal with vampires!!!

@KlaxontheImpailr 9 ай бұрын

What if you took a plane?

@m0llux 9 ай бұрын

@@KlaxontheImpailryou also cross a stream.... 38000ft below you.

@philiphunt-bull5817 9 ай бұрын

@@KlaxontheImpailryou still pass the water

@qlum 9 ай бұрын

Unless you build a few strategic dams at the moment of crossing. Don't know why you would go that far but it is an option.

@yaitz3313 9 ай бұрын

Ooh, we're starting our way down Wikipedia's "List of unusual drainage systems" article! Next up: Slims River, whose drainage basin was changed in 2016 by global warming, and the Danube Sinkhole, where water in the upper Danube River falls into sinkholes and pops back out in the Rhine instead.

@christianm6052 9 ай бұрын

Oh thank god, this is a real thing! Goodbye afternoon.

@cem_kaya 8 ай бұрын

no spoilers please.

@goosenotmaverick1156 8 ай бұрын

@@cem_kayaright like I kinda want to go read, but I also don't wanna ruin it haha

@cem_kaya 8 ай бұрын

@@goosenotmaverick1156 Was worth the read

@Iris_and_or_George 8 ай бұрын

Meh! Why did you do this? I was just about to do something! 😂❤

@ARandomDonut 9 ай бұрын

I love how you also somehow managed to misdraw the Missouri River that badly when you can literally see it on the satellite map.

@Jacobadia 9 ай бұрын

Wait, what’s the time stamp for that?

@ARandomDonut 9 ай бұрын

3:24

@dru4670 8 ай бұрын

Rivers change course frequently.

@cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ 8 ай бұрын

I didn't believe the course could change so drastically vut I looked at a map and it really is the satellite picture here that's wrong!

@ARandomDonut 8 ай бұрын

Not by hundreds of miles LOL

@WatchHimFlow 9 ай бұрын

There's also a river in Argentina, Arroyo Partido that does the same thing and goes to the Pacific (Valdivia, Chile) or the Atlantic (Viedma). So technically the southernmost part of the continent is also an island.

@EnormousPurpleGarden 8 ай бұрын

There's also Divide Creek on the border between British Columbia and Alberta that drains into both the Pacific and the Arctic, so there's another giant island north of the giant island shown in the video.

@Danbatio 8 ай бұрын

Location at 40 14' 31" S - 71 22' 21" W. Can be visible in Google Earth (north -> Pacific, south -> Atlantic).

@dclark142002 8 ай бұрын

The whole continent is an island...

@soundscape26 8 ай бұрын

@@dclark142002 All continents are islands basically.

@theviniso 8 ай бұрын

@@soundscape26 Islands are just tiny little continents.

@RyanCarpenter 9 ай бұрын

Fun fact: Continental Divide Trail thru-hikers get to hike by the Parting-of-the-Waters. And it really is a dinky little creek that would be completely forgettable if not for this particularly interesting fact. =) And--I'm not naming names here--but someone might have peed into the watershed in that area just to brag that they were polluting two oceans at the same time.

@goosenotmaverick1156 8 ай бұрын

I know that totally wasn't you, but I don't blame them, I think I'd do the same 😂

@jonadabtheunsightly 8 ай бұрын

@@goosenotmaverick1156 Honestly, in an area that rural, it isn't a big deal. Do NOT do it in a densely populated area, though. That's trouble. Not as bad as poo, but still, don't do it.

@goosenotmaverick1156 8 ай бұрын

@@jonadabtheunsightly oh no worries I know. I was rolling with the joke. I've gone "in the wild" you could say, my fair share of times lol

@jonadabtheunsightly 8 ай бұрын

@@goosenotmaverick1156 I don't very often get into areas suitable for that. (I live in central Ohio, so "rural" around here means the houses are only along the roads, with corn or soybean fields behind their back yards. The roads, of course, are laid out in a regular square grid spaced no more than half a mile apart, because of the way the land was apportioned, following the Northwest Ordinance. So it's basically impossible to be more than a quarter mile from the nearest house anywhere in the state.) I think the most rural area I've personally visited, is that stretch of Ontario on the north side of Lake Huron. Between Sault Ste Marie and Espanola.

@colecampbell6412 8 ай бұрын

Been there, done that. 😊

@Itsmarkyoung 8 ай бұрын

I grew up in Colorado, and camping on either side of the Continental Divide was so interesting, because they are basically like separate climates. Like he said, 80% of the water that falls in Colorado was on the west of the CD, so the snowpack and vegetation was much different on either side

@Pidabred1 8 ай бұрын

ya I grew up skiing Monarch as the local area but went to Crested Butte whenever I could because the snow was sooooo much better

@proverbalizer 4 ай бұрын

I guess that's why you have Eldora on. the East side of the Divide and Loveland literally on top of the divide right before you cross it, and almost ll the other ski areas require you to go through Eisenhower tunnel or a pass over the divide to get there from the front range

@tjirlbeck1311 9 ай бұрын

There is also a smaller but interesting basin in North Dakota called the devils lake basin which can if overfilled can enter the red river basin but hasn’t for centuries. Maybe it could be a decent half as interesting video for the future. Over the last 30 years, the lake has fluctuated over 50ft in elevation and has caused many roads and a few towns to be engulfed by the rising water level.

@tiagoprado7001 9 ай бұрын

And they thought they were safe from rising water levels because they don't have a coast lmao

@jaysmith1408 9 ай бұрын

And they had to move the railroad Twice

@tjirlbeck1311 9 ай бұрын

@@jaysmith1408 I forgot about that. Haha

@ferretyluv 8 ай бұрын

*there

@tjirlbeck1311 8 ай бұрын

@@ferretyluv thank you for the correction

@crawkn 8 ай бұрын

This made me think about what an aquatic species' maps would look like. Bodies and streams of water would be highly detailed with underwater features, and continents would be vast blank expanses of irrelevance. Land creatures would be "sea monster" analogs.

@soundscape26 8 ай бұрын

A good premise for a movie of some kind.

@user-ft9ul5ul5v 9 ай бұрын

In Russian geographical law the river has only one true course, and all others are "streams". For example, there is a Kuban river, and then there is a Protoka stream branching from it near the city of Slavyansk-na-Kubany (formerly Kopıl under Ottomans). Only the southern course is meant as "Kuban river", because this is where the majority of water pressure is. If classified under soviet rules, this American river would have a veeery long almost completely unrelated "stream".

@Tinil0 8 ай бұрын

Well...I mean, it is a stream anyway. This isn't one river, this is just a stream that splits into two streams and each stream ends up flowing into an actual river, just on different sides of the continental divide.

@MonkeyJedi99 8 ай бұрын

Silly Russians, waterways don't follow the law. They follow gravity and hydrodynamic influences.

@user-ft9ul5ul5v 8 ай бұрын

@@MonkeyJedi99These are the laws of classifications. Obviously the process itself does not change. But certainly one of those streams has more water pressure and therefore is a real course of this river.

@InventorZahran 8 ай бұрын

⁠⁠⁠@@MonkeyJedi99In Mother Russia, the law follows the river.

@JohnSmithShields 8 ай бұрын

Thanks to CGP Grey for helping me name and recognise US state flags. As a resident of the UK this is disturbing.

@DavidCruickshank 8 ай бұрын

I hope you are drinking plenty of tea to counteract that American influence. Wouldn't want to have his royal highness paying you a re-education visit...

@vale.antoni 8 ай бұрын

Well most of them isn't too difficult to name, since they all break the last rule, so they are automatic F tier. But F tier is so crammed, it's also a tier list.

@AaronSmith-sx4ez 9 ай бұрын

In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin River used to split by Portage with part flowing into Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence Seaway and the rest flowing into the Mississippi. Since the dikes were built in Portage, very low water from the Wisconsin River still splits off into the Fox/Lake Michigan but it does happen.

@-You-Tube- 8 ай бұрын

I love the name origin jokes, it reminds me of the time I told GPT-3 to write me a thriller with only the text "it was a dark and stormy night.." it outlined a story taking place in rural estate in the mountains called "Mountaingate estate" and then it went on to explain that it was named that after te owner, Mr William Mountaingate.

@zyaicob 8 ай бұрын

The only good joke ChatGPT ever told and it was actually told by his dad.

@eostyrwinn5018 9 ай бұрын

I now really want a Wendover video on Colorado's water infrastructure crossing the continental divide. Side note: I'm pretty sure that at the beginning the dot for "If you pour some water here it will drain into the pacific" is in the great basin and so uhh... won't

@FirstLast-qf1df 8 ай бұрын

Oh good I was worried I was the only one who noticed.

@jpay 8 ай бұрын

The Committee's Punch Bowl (2:01) in Canada drains into the Pacific & Arctic Oceans - not the Atlantic. (Though it depends on if you consider Hudson Bay the Atlantic or Arctic Ocean)

@larsedik 8 ай бұрын

I consider Hudson Bay to be part of the Atlantic - it is too far south to be Arctic. I guess "Hudson's Bay" must be the Canadian name, but I've never heard it called that before.

@Norrieification 8 ай бұрын

Canadian here, I’d always considered it the Atlantic, but now I’m questioning everything.

@jpay 8 ай бұрын

@@larsedikHudson's Bay is sometimes used historically, but I made a typo - meant Hudson Bay. The International Hydrographic Organization considers it the Arctic, and other authorities consider it the Atlantic. I guess it's a fiercely debated topic in hydrography circles 😂

@czbbflier 7 ай бұрын

Hudson Bay is part of the Atlantic. Go further north and you arrive at the pinnacle divide for the continent where one definitely flows into the Arctic and one definitely into the Atlantic: The Columbia Icefields: Pacific: Fraser River to Strait of Georgia at Vancouver, then draining into Pacific Ocean. Atlantic: N. Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, & Nelson Rivers to Hudson Bay at Churchill MB, then draining into Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson Strait. Arctic: Sunwapta, Athabasca, & Mackenzie Rivers to the Bering Sea at Tuktoyatuk, becoming the Arctic Ocean.

@jpay 7 ай бұрын

Hey@@czbbflier, thanks for the thoughtful reply! I grew up near(ish) the Columbia Icefields, and have summited many peaks along the Icefields Parkway but not yet Snow Dome, the hydrological apex you mention. In school, we were taught that Snow Dome divides the *Pacific, Arctic, and Hudson Bay* drainage basins; with Hudson Bay having a distinct _drainage_ but being considered part of the Arctic _Ocean._ However, some friends over the AB/BC border learned it as part of the Atlantic. There's Three-Divide Peak further south in the U.S., which also divides three distinct drainage basins (and possibly oceans). Definitely the Atlantic and Hudson Bay. It's the only other possible [accepted] apex of North America. Of course, there are many recognized triple divides. According to the IHO (ocean surveying & charting adhered to by _almost_ every country) and some other sources: Hudson Bay is an inland marginal sea of the *_Arctic_* Ocean. According to NatGeo Atlas and some other sources: Hudson Bay is part of the *_Atlantic_* Ocean. From Encyclopedia Britannica: _"It is connected with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson Strait (northeast) and with the Arctic Ocean via the Foxe Channel (north)"._ So the classification of Hudson Bay is different depending on the organization or source asked; at least in modern academia. My point was: if experts' opinions vary (particularly the relevant field of hydrography), then the topic probably has several different - yet valid! - well-considered answers. 🙂

@acedecade8337 8 ай бұрын

The Little Minnesota River normally flows from South Dakota into Minnesota into Big Stone Lake, which outlets south into the Minnesota River and eventually the Mississippi. However, during periods of high water, the Little Minnesota overtops and some of the water crosses the Laurentain Divide into Traverse Lake, which outlets north into the Bois des Sioux River, which eventually enters the Red River of the North and ends up in Hudson Bay.

@cbennefeld03 8 ай бұрын

As a Saskatchewanian I view this as an absolute win

@LuminaryGames 8 ай бұрын

Gotta love a Saskatchewan reference. Now back to island time!

@ABCantonese 9 ай бұрын

And of course, nobody remembers Divide Creek at Kicking Horse Pass. Not to mention, it's easy easier to get to than Two Oceans Pass.

@kme 8 ай бұрын

I've been to both, but I'm from Alberta, not far from there, so... I vividly remember my mum informing us about the fact that it ran into the Columbia river, which we then visited on another trip (and got to dip our feet and legs into the part we went to. It was very underwhelming for teenaged me lol). I don't remember the part about the Arctic tho... We took my husband and son later on a trip to jasper and the columbia ice fields, which was the first time I'd been to *that* part.

@DaveAtUofL 9 ай бұрын

Welp next "Things we got wrong" Committees punchbowl is in Canada not the US so the US Fish and Wildlife service was wrong. What I meant to say was The Canadian Wildlife Service...

@Baldrick99 9 ай бұрын

Also according to the map earlier in the video it drains to the arctic ocean not the atlantic

@raymiemiller1455 9 ай бұрын

It still affects US waters though

@danielb2571 9 ай бұрын

@@raymiemiller1455but would the US fish and wildlife really care if someone spiked a Canadian punch bowl?

@danielb2571 9 ай бұрын

Common son, the Secret Service doesn't care if someone spikes Biden's punch bowl.

@raymiemiller1455 8 ай бұрын

@@danielb2571 Depends how how much he spiked it

@eliteninnja2892 9 ай бұрын

The Columbian Ice Fields in Alberta, Canada is the only water source to flow into 3 oceans. Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic

@bradneubauer4694 8 ай бұрын

There is a triple point in Montana where water flows into the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson's Bay.

@Hazaerdt 8 ай бұрын

I *highly* doubt both of these claims. Proof, please.

@bradneubauer4694 8 ай бұрын

@@Hazaerdt - Triple Divide Peak, in Montana.... Google it!

@nickharland3795 8 ай бұрын

@@Hazaerdt The summit of Snow Dome (3456 meters/11338 feet) in the Columbia Ice Fields, drains into the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. It all depends on if you consider Hudson Bay to be part of the Arctic or Atlantic Ocean. The same thing applies with the Montana triple divide.

@katrinabryce Ай бұрын

@@Hazaerdt There is a difference between a watershed, where water on one side of a line or point falls in one direction, and on the other side in the other direction, and a situation where water in the same place could end up going either way.

@matthewoolman1012 8 ай бұрын

There's a tiny little irrigation canal over South Pass, Wyoming, that moves water from the Green River basin to water some hay fields on the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide.

@dylanattix2765 8 ай бұрын

The Great Basin was once the floor of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of this.

@FalbertForester 8 ай бұрын

There's a spot sorta like this in the state of Maine in the USA. The Saint John River flows northeast-ish through Maine, then into New Brunswick (Canada), then into the ocean. Near its headwaters, the Saint John Pond chain collects and sends that water down the river, but the Penobscot River is just two miles away from Fifth Saint John Pond, so at one time, the pond was dammed, the pond's level raised and water and logs were sent southward through Maine down the Penobscot River into the ocean - completely different route, and 150 miles apart at the ocean ends of the rivers.

@caylawalker134 8 ай бұрын

YESS, we love a river bi-con

@gilliesuarez 8 ай бұрын

I went to another place that does this this summer, so it isn't the only place. The long draw reservoir which is just north of rocky mountain national park flows on the west side, directly into the Colorado river, which is at least supposed to make it to the Pacific Ocean via the Gulf of California. On the east side, it takes a less direct route, flowing through several River including La Poudre creek, the south platte river, and eventually the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

@kevinharms5158 8 ай бұрын

Long draw is man made but south of long draw is Milner Pass the head water for beaver creek in the Colorado river basin and the Pouder river in the Platte river basin

@guszun18 8 ай бұрын

0:38 my immediate first thought 👏🏼

@bradgillette3325 8 ай бұрын

I've lived in Grand Teton park for 4 years. Two Oceans Lake is one of my favorite recommendations. Thanks for the video.

@Syn_1 8 ай бұрын

if I recall, through the existence of some canals, the Mississippi River connects to the Great Lakes and then from there connects to the St. Lawrence River and out to the Atlantic. And if I'm led to believe that Africa is a separate continent because of the Suez Canal I can be allowed to believe that North America is actually just 3 giant islands.

@EnormousPurpleGarden 8 ай бұрын

There's also Divide Creek on the border between British Columbia and Alberta that drains into both the Pacific and the Arctic, so there are at least four giant islands.

@idriveastationwagon1534 8 ай бұрын

I’m disturbed that I live on a giant island. I’m on the east coast.

@VinceP1974 27 күн бұрын

There are a series of rivers/canals in Illinois that link Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. Lake Michigan Chicago Harbor Chicago River Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Des Plaines River Illinois River Mississippi River

@revcrussell 8 ай бұрын

If you are collecting errors, the statement at 2:07 is wrong. Committee's Punch Bowl drains to the Arctic Ocean not the Atlantic Ocean.

@destrygriffith3972 8 ай бұрын

Loving the new fun style - pls keep experimenting and exploring, giving us eclectic educational content.

@EnormousPurpleGarden 8 ай бұрын

There's also Divide Creek on the border between British Columbia and Alberta that drains into both the Pacific and the Arctic.

@waynemaddison2494 8 ай бұрын

Yes. The video's saying "two oceans" at 2:30 is a bit misleading; it should be "these two oceans, Atlantic and Pacific". Divide Creek divides at about 51.45135, -116.2862. When I first visited in 1970, there was a picnic area and plaque, etc. When I last visited in 2015, the picnic area was abandoned (perhaps because a change of highway?), but the creek was still splitting!

@czbbflier 7 ай бұрын

@@waynemaddison2494The park authorities closed the back road in the early 2000s and hence the picnic area to return it back to nature. The main highway has been where it is since the 50s. And yes, the creek is still divided.

@cg62262 8 ай бұрын

There is another endoheric basin you may have forgotten about: it contains the Lake Of The Woods, which is along the continental divide near Dubois, WY. You can get to it by taking Union Pass Road, & Union Pass is just a few miles away from the Lake Of The Woods. Also nearby is Three Waters Mountain, which looks fairly easy to hike to. Its summit is the point where the Mississippi, Colorado & Columbia River basins meet. Check them out on Google Earth! 😁

@HeisenbergFam 9 ай бұрын

3:47 never thought I would hear North America is an island, definitely the chunkiest island in history

@lewkeee 9 ай бұрын

R u from braking bad

@nlarson 8 ай бұрын

North america is three islands, the two from this video, but the Mississippi connects to the great lakes which connects to the saint lawerence, so the eastern US and canada is also an island

@hypenheimer 8 ай бұрын

Hello again heisenberg! For those who don't know, Heisenberg is the fresh account of the "NMRIH is a great source mod" which was banned for botting/violating KZfaq TOS -Same mannerisms, Over 800+ subs to only popular/viewed channels, popped up right when the previous account was banned about four months ago, this account is a bot that spams and like baits channel's comment sections for subs.

@davidbarts6144 8 ай бұрын

There is also Great Divide Creek on the BC/Alberta border that forks and flows down both sides of the Continental Divide, to the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

@verylostdoommarauder Ай бұрын

There is more than just that stream that make part of North America into an island. The combination of the Erie Canal, the Hudson River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River mean that technically, a big chunk of the northeastern US and New Brunswick are technically an island.

@safebox36 9 ай бұрын

I was gonna point out the Panama Canal does as well. Then I realised it doesn't really "flow", it just has water shifted back and forth via waterlocks.

@SleepyHarryZzz 9 ай бұрын

The definition of "river" is pretty loose iirc, but I'm fairly confident in saying that being a man-made canal precludes it from riverness

@ryanthompson3737 9 ай бұрын

@@SleepyHarryZzzWhich itself is kind of broad since one could argue that bodies of water formed via human activity, such as hydro dams, are man-made.

@SleepyHarryZzz 9 ай бұрын

@@ryanthompson3737 definitely debatable, but "man-made" wasn't the only distinction I made

@AlanTheBeast100 9 ай бұрын

Locks operate by gravity alone*. Fresh water flows down to one ocean or the other from Gatun lake and is lost when it reaches the ocean. Right now there is not enough fresh water to operate at full capacity, so fewer ships per day can pass and they have to be loaded more lightly than usual. Not sure if once-upon-a-time there was a lake (were lakes) that flowed to each but I'll give you a few days to research it and report back. *The Panama Canal does have some provision to lose less water than usual, but this is not perfect. The energy and time to pump water back up each section would make locks impractical.

@brandy1262 8 ай бұрын

There is also Divide Creek near Lake Louise that splits with the eastern path going to the Arctic Ocean and the western arm to the Pacific Ocean.

@soaringChris 8 ай бұрын

I enjoy that in highlighting the area of North America that is "technically" an island they didn't highlight the area that is literally an island

@mattr8750 8 ай бұрын

This was full as interesting! Liked this one

@froglady7491 3 ай бұрын

Thanks! Always appreciate learning odd facts!

@Mohamed-om2xv 8 ай бұрын

The best vid in some time, keep up the great work guys!

@timothylee8494 8 ай бұрын

There are not many people who would be especially amused by a pun about cutthroat explorers seeking the Northwest Passage and cutthroat trout Congratulations, this video reached one of them

@fernandonagle 4 ай бұрын

Near Brasilia, Brazil's capital, there is a place called "águas emendadas" (literally joined waters) where there is a water sprout that flows both north to the Amazon basin and south to the Parana basin. There is also a river (Rio Casiquiari) in Venezuela that flows both ways: north to the Orinoco and south to the Amazon. In the 1970's some guys sailed a hobbycat from Miami, went upstream the Orinoco, crossed this river and then downstream to Manaus and finally Belem at the mouth of the Amazon river in the Atlantic.

@Wintersmith12 8 ай бұрын

"To find out how it works I put Amy into a boat..."

@mattlien5844 8 ай бұрын

I believe there is a cow pasture in NE North Dakota where, when the water is high, and the pasture is flooded it drains into two different drainages. Some of it goes southeast into the Sheyenne river then to the Red river and eventually to Hudson Bay. Water that drains West ends up in the James River, the Missouri and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

@laserduck4238 8 ай бұрын

England has a river like this, but on a much smaller scale: Raise Beck in the Lake District National Park just north of Grasmere. It splits just above the pass of Dunmail Raise, and one part flows north to the Irish sea and the other flows south to Morecambe bay (which is still the Irish sea but a different part). Interestingly it only splits when it's been raining a lot. In drier weather it only flows north and the south bed dries up

@jul1440 Ай бұрын

Also, albeit artificially, the headstreams of the Colorado river, which are diverted under the Continental Divide via the Azotea Tunnel, and into the Rio Grande system (via the San Juan-Chama Project), which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

@johnchandler1687 8 ай бұрын

In the autobiography of Osborn Russel, " Nine Years In The Rocky Mountains", he tells of a csmp high on a mountain side where a spring bubbled out of a Crack in the rock. One of the other trappers noticed that halfway down the mountainside it split at a large rock. They mused that one side went west toward the Pacific and the other toward the east and the Missouri watershed. They were amused that the spring wound up in two different oceans. ( this is a lesson to never let anyone borrow a book you treasure. They never returned that book and even claimed they never borrowed it.)

@wailinburnin 3 ай бұрын

I’m finding Osborn Russell being referenced more and more (not an internet search trick, in print). He’s not as famous a Mountain Man as others but that could be gradually changing. Just a thought.

@alexrowaan7326 9 ай бұрын

At 2:09 you said Isa Lake was in a state, Wyoming, but just said that Committee’s Punch Bowl was in a country, Canada. If only there was some state-like areas of land in Canada that you could use to be more specific

@jaysmith1408 9 ай бұрын

Alberta and BC. It bothered me too

@clvrswine 8 ай бұрын

The eternal inferiority complex of Canadians.

@TheCriminalViolin 8 ай бұрын

The way I found out about this was via trying to locate where the three Sweetwater River crossings were and why you crossed it three times in the Oregon Trail games. Turns out, the Sweetwater River is a direct part of this creek which couldn't decide which direction to go.

@VTPSTTU 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video. Wyoming has a couple of basins from what I've seen here. Maybe they are only considered to be one basin and are connected in some way. Obviously, they aren't as notable as the Great Basin. I might have to try to find a way to visit that creek someday.

@kvetter 8 ай бұрын

Divide Creek (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_Creek) in BC/AB on the border between Yoho National Park and Banff National Park flows along the continental divide a short distance then forks with one side draining through the Bow River east to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean, and the other side draining west to the Pacific Ocean by way of the Kicking Horse River.

@-i1007 9 ай бұрын

5:40 the best joke sam ever made

@revinhatol 4 ай бұрын

1:50 Of course the two most famous basins are the Bajio in Mexico and the GDB in southern Wyoming.

@1.4142 8 ай бұрын

If you spill some water in nevada it will either evaporate or go into the great basin and evaporate. The colorado river doesn't reach the pacific most of the time as it is irrigated so much.

@wades623 8 ай бұрын

pretty sure none of it gets to mexico. ive always heard it is all gone sucked out by that one coastal state because they think its ok to grow stuff that needs a lot of water in the desert

@philipcraig6230 8 ай бұрын

Really interesting, thanks for this. I once spent a lot of time estimating the co-ordinates of the North American continental divide by clicking on a map with drainage basins overlain on terrain. Wasn't aware of this freak river at the time.

@tonymckeage1028 3 ай бұрын

Great Video, Very Interesting, in New Zealand we do have a river (the Manawatu) that flows through the Main Divide which runs the length of the country, thanks for sharing

@nkmcquain 9 ай бұрын

GREAT episode guys!!! I love telling this random fact.

@raymondeichler442 8 ай бұрын

Terribly interesting! Never ever heard of any of this. Thank you!

@Davidsavage8008 9 ай бұрын

The Granround river goes from the Pacific to the snake and back around to the Pacific just like the James river does. The James river flows from the Atlantic to Buchanon down to Roenocke To Danville Virginia to north Carolina and back to the Atlantic .

@chrisbradley1192 8 ай бұрын

There's a creek at Kicking Horse Pass that does the same split. One side goes to The Pacific and the other to Hudson's Bay.

@wordsmithgmxch Ай бұрын

Too cool ! ! ! Now do one on the Lunghin Pass, up in the mountains above St. Moritz, Switzerland: Europe's only three-way watershed. It features a triangular stone marker with a recess on top like an ashtray. A raindrop falling in there will run partly to the Black Sea via the Danube, partly through Italy's Po River to the Adriatic / Med, and partly down the Rhine to the North Sea / Atlantic Ocean.

@danielsprouls9458 8 ай бұрын

Water shed divides are interesting. One of my favorites is in Chisholm Minnesota. The water splits three ways between the Hudson Bay watershed, the Great lakes watershed, and of course the Mississippi watershed. With the exception of a few meandering creeks it's said that no rivers flow into Minnesota. All rivers flow out. That's why where I live is called the headwaters region of Minnesota.

@sevyswift7956 8 ай бұрын

Best video yet with the half as interesting exception that spiking Committees Punchbowl actually goes to the Arctic Ocean and not the Atlantic Ocean. I will be waiting to see this correction at the end of the year and if not shown I will meet you Sam at the Punchbowl and we will actually drink punch in it’s waters to prove you wrong because that’s what the internet cares about.

@garbageflowers 8 ай бұрын

i love your videos so much. keep it up

@jacobzacharias356 8 ай бұрын

3:53 I appreciate that shoutout, here I grew up thinking I was pretty much landlocked

@wadesaxton6079 3 ай бұрын

We used to always go Elk hunting up the pacific creek drainage when I was a kid. Nice area to hunt between to National Parks

@skhull2 9 ай бұрын

you really missed the boat on one half as interesting fact. the part of Isa lake that flows to the Atlantic exits the lake to the west & the park of Isa Lake that flows to the Pacific exits to the east. Get your act together Sam!

@yuckyool 8 ай бұрын

Glad you mentioned Isa Lake. It was cool to go there,

@gregs2509 7 ай бұрын

It's a cool place,Two Ocean Plateau. Been there, done that! Fixed a little trail and caught /released a few hundred Golden Trout while we were there. If you go there during a thunderstorm you might get to see some St. Elmo's Fire. That is a memory that lasts. Fifty years so far for me!

@Derek032789 8 ай бұрын

Divide Creek in Alberta also splits at the continental divide - One branch flows to the Arctic Ocean and the other flows to the Pacific Ocean.

@deannelson9565 8 ай бұрын

3:30 I was unaware that the Missouri River jumps out of its Channel at Bismarck North Dakota proceeds straight East on I-94 till it gets to Fargo then goes south on I-29 till it reaches Sioux City Iowa!

@WinchCycle 8 ай бұрын

The Saskatchewan River starts in British Columbia and it ends in Manitoba. The Sask River literally crosses that line.

@RRW359 9 ай бұрын

"All water will eventually go to the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean" Crater Lake: Hold my beer.

@9ED6F5E1 8 ай бұрын

when he started talking about the Colorado rain problem I was expecting it to go to a Nebula special ad

@dalegraham53 8 ай бұрын

When Alexander Mackenzie was the first to travel overland across North America in 1793, he crossed the divide near the headwaters of the Peace R. in BC. At the top was 2 lakes that drained into two different oceans: he named them Arctic and Pacific. Today it is a Provincial Park, Arctic Pacific PP, northeast of Prince George.

@pyropulseIXXI 8 ай бұрын

Your first dot doesn't flow to any ocean; it is stuck in the Nevada basin and then just evaporates

@RandomRetallingsofRiggins 8 ай бұрын

Don't forget about Snowdome where the glacier goes into the artic, Atlantic, and pacific really interesting spot.

@geologyguy 8 ай бұрын

Not far away from that is Three Waters Mountain, which separates not only the Missouri and Columbia watersheds, but also that of the Colorado River too!

@mnorth1351 8 ай бұрын

I don't know what you call it when a river CROSSES OVER ITSELF after it has split at a Continental divide ... but there is one of those too (if you count man-made canals). The Saint Mary River has two different outflows from Lower Saint Mary Lake, in Montana. The main flow joins the Oldman river then the Saskatchewan River before it flows into Lake Winnipeg and then Hudson Bay. But a canal splits water off of it right as it leaves Lower Saint Mary Lake, it crosses over the other river on a bridge (!!), joins the North Fork of the Milk River, crosses into Canada, then eventually back into Montana, and joins the Missouri river, and thence South to the Gulf of Mexico. The project to build this canal system was actually the subject of an extended legal dispute between the U.S. and Canada in the early 20th century.

@xrich1577 20 күн бұрын

Similarly, in Canada there is the Great Divide Creek which splits into two branches, with one draining in the Pacific Ocean and the other in the Arctic Ocean.

@WanderingExistence 9 ай бұрын

Issac Newton determines where water goes.

@ryanthompson3737 9 ай бұрын

Before him, water just didn't flow. Was a sad time in history.

@kennethlee2278 3 ай бұрын

I live in northwest Indiana just a few miles from Lake Michigan, but I’m outside of the lake’s watershed. Any rain here goes to the Mississippi River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.

@its_sun7906 8 ай бұрын

after watching jet lag half as interesting will never be the same I can never unsee sams face when I hear his voice now

@Jsmith2024 4 ай бұрын

Never knew there was such a place. Thanks!

@danielcarroll5667 8 ай бұрын

Great video , thanks !

@joshuabessire9169 9 ай бұрын

It's said if you find Henry Hudson's remains and bury his bones at this creek, his soul will finally rest.

@2nddancervadventures643 7 ай бұрын

Some years back I backpacked 30 miles to fish cutthroat in the Upper Yellowstone River, and stopped at the “Parting of Waters” to relieve my bladder… it was a mystical experience being connected to two oceans!

@Miamcoline 8 ай бұрын

That *was* super interesting! Thank you!

@haydent4461 8 ай бұрын

This video would have been even better with some on-location reporting from Amy at Two Oceans Pass

@Panache_ 8 ай бұрын

You should do do a video on the only triple divide mountain which is in the Canadian Rockies.

@jchavins 3 ай бұрын

water in the Climax mine (Climax Colorado) had to be carefully monitored as some had to go to the Arkansas River and some had to go into a creek that eventually made its way into the Colorado River

@SleightlyPersonal 8 ай бұрын

I remember learning about Mr. NorthTwoOceans in Water School. What a legend! Inspires me every day.

@Mladjasmilic 8 ай бұрын

There is a river in Serbia, called Nerodimka, which splits into two near city Uroševac. One part flows into Black sea, other into Aegean. There is even a clidren playground at place of bifurcation.

@tonychinn 3 ай бұрын

Fascinating information, never heard about that. But there is a triple divide pass. Did any commenter mention Triple Divide Pass in Glacier National Park? "The Triple Divide Pass Trail is a unique piece of Glacier National Park as it brings together three oceans as water flows off of its soaring mountain peaks and sweeps down into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans."

@frankhage1734 8 ай бұрын

It's also interesting that Congress passed laws that prevent moving water west across the Continental Divide. I suggest that excess solar and wind energy be used to pump water from the Mississippi to the Colorado River basin during floods.