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

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  • čas přidán 20. 09. 2023
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Komentáře • 818

  • @dragonridley
    @dragonridley Před 8 měsíci +2989

    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
      @yokcos Před 8 měsíci +170

      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
      @rachebrother5349 Před 8 měsíci +106

      Actually his name was Oddly S. Pacific

    • @NONO-hz4vo
      @NONO-hz4vo Před 8 měsíci +42

      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
      @travisolander4749 Před 8 měsíci +28

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

    • @debbylou5729
      @debbylou5729 Před 8 měsíci +2

      I don’t get it. Why is that funny?

  • @milindbordia
    @milindbordia Před 8 měsíci +833

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

    • @deivydasbaksa3324
      @deivydasbaksa3324 Před 8 měsíci +28

      Would not live long due to different salt levels

    • @payrysdoscs4903
      @payrysdoscs4903 Před 8 měsíci +6

      🙃

    • @sandhilltucker
      @sandhilltucker Před 8 měsíci +49

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

    • @TheWizardous
      @TheWizardous Před 8 měsíci +1

      Lol

    • @veindrain
      @veindrain Před 8 měsíci +14

      ​@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.

  • @Leyrann
    @Leyrann Před 8 měsíci +863

    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
      @lolmandos Před 8 měsíci +26

      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
      @gangstreG123 Před 8 měsíci +58

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

    • @EnormousPurpleGarden
      @EnormousPurpleGarden Před 8 měsíci +27

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

    • @flamencoprof
      @flamencoprof Před 8 měsíci +8

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

    • @eruilluvitar
      @eruilluvitar Před 8 měsíci +8

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

  • @sks2000
    @sks2000 Před 8 měsíci +582

    @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
      @ferretyluv Před 8 měsíci +3

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

    • @cxzact9204
      @cxzact9204 Před 8 měsíci +63

      Your mum sounds really cool.

    • @sks2000
      @sks2000 Před 8 měsíci +29

      @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
      @vishalverma Před 8 měsíci +2

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

    • @Dreyno
      @Dreyno Před 8 měsíci +7

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

  • @appalachianenthusiast9499
    @appalachianenthusiast9499 Před 8 měsíci +877

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

    • @JaydragonM
      @JaydragonM Před 8 měsíci +85

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

    • @KlaxontheImpailr
      @KlaxontheImpailr Před 8 měsíci +11

      What if you took a plane?

    • @m0llux
      @m0llux Před 8 měsíci +1

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

    • @philiphunt-bull5817
      @philiphunt-bull5817 Před 8 měsíci +76

      ​@@KlaxontheImpailryou still pass the water

    • @qlum
      @qlum Před 8 měsíci +44

      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
    @yaitz3313 Před 8 měsíci +348

    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
      @christianm6052 Před 8 měsíci +45

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

    • @cem_kaya
      @cem_kaya Před 8 měsíci +11

      no spoilers please.

    • @goosenotmaverick1156
      @goosenotmaverick1156 Před 8 měsíci +7

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

    • @cem_kaya
      @cem_kaya Před 8 měsíci +3

      @@goosenotmaverick1156 Was worth the read

    • @Iris_and_or_George
      @Iris_and_or_George Před 8 měsíci +3

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

  • @WatchHimFlow
    @WatchHimFlow Před 8 měsíci +205

    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
      @EnormousPurpleGarden Před 8 měsíci +17

      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
      @Danbatio Před 8 měsíci +4

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

    • @dclark142002
      @dclark142002 Před 8 měsíci +7

      The whole continent is an island...

    • @soundscape26
      @soundscape26 Před 8 měsíci +10

      @@dclark142002 All continents are islands basically.

    • @theviniso
      @theviniso Před 8 měsíci +11

      @@soundscape26 Islands are just tiny little continents.

  • @ARandomDonut
    @ARandomDonut Před 8 měsíci +633

    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
      @Jacobadia Před 8 měsíci +4

      Wait, what’s the time stamp for that?

    • @ARandomDonut
      @ARandomDonut Před 8 měsíci +43

      3:24

    • @dru4670
      @dru4670 Před 8 měsíci +10

      Rivers change course frequently.

    • @cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ
      @cFyugThCzvAqYaGmxRgfCKTuvHMEjQ Před 8 měsíci +27

      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
      @ARandomDonut Před 8 měsíci +8

      Not by hundreds of miles LOL

  • @RyanCarpenter
    @RyanCarpenter Před 8 měsíci +229

    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
      @goosenotmaverick1156 Před 8 měsíci +13

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

    • @jonadabtheunsightly
      @jonadabtheunsightly Před 8 měsíci +5

      @@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
      @goosenotmaverick1156 Před 8 měsíci +2

      @@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
      @jonadabtheunsightly Před 8 měsíci +1

      @@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
      @colecampbell6412 Před 8 měsíci +1

      Been there, done that. 😊

  • @Itsmarkyoung
    @Itsmarkyoung Před 8 měsíci +58

    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
      @Pidabred1 Před 7 měsíci

      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
      @proverbalizer Před 3 měsíci +1

      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

  • @crawkn
    @crawkn Před 8 měsíci +29

    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
      @soundscape26 Před 8 měsíci +6

      A good premise for a movie of some kind.

  • @tjirlbeck1311
    @tjirlbeck1311 Před 8 měsíci +119

    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
      @tiagoprado7001 Před 8 měsíci +3

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

    • @jaysmith1408
      @jaysmith1408 Před 8 měsíci +6

      And they had to move the railroad
      Twice

    • @tjirlbeck1311
      @tjirlbeck1311 Před 8 měsíci

      @@jaysmith1408 I forgot about that. Haha

    • @ferretyluv
      @ferretyluv Před 8 měsíci

      *there

    • @tjirlbeck1311
      @tjirlbeck1311 Před 8 měsíci +1

      @@ferretyluv thank you for the correction

  • @AaronSmith-sx4ez
    @AaronSmith-sx4ez Před 8 měsíci +25

    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-
    @-You-Tube- Před 8 měsíci +22

    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
      @zyaicob Před 8 měsíci +2

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

  • @user-ft9ul5ul5v
    @user-ft9ul5ul5v Před 8 měsíci +57

    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
      @Tinil0 Před 8 měsíci +4

      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
      @MonkeyJedi99 Před 8 měsíci +6

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

    • @user-ft9ul5ul5v
      @user-ft9ul5ul5v Před 8 měsíci +1

      @@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
      @InventorZahran Před 8 měsíci +2

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

  • @eostyrwinn5018
    @eostyrwinn5018 Před 8 měsíci +61

    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
      @FirstLast-qf1df Před 8 měsíci

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

  • @JohnSmithShields
    @JohnSmithShields Před 8 měsíci +66

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

    • @DavidCruickshank
      @DavidCruickshank Před 8 měsíci

      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
      @vale.antoni Před 8 měsíci +7

      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.

  • @jpay
    @jpay Před 8 měsíci +31

    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
      @larsedik Před 8 měsíci +3

      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
      @Norrieification Před 8 měsíci +3

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

    • @jpay
      @jpay Před 8 měsíci +1

      ​​​​@@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
      @czbbflier Před 7 měsíci +1

      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
      @jpay Před 7 měsíci +2

      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
    @acedecade8337 Před 8 měsíci +4

    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
    @cbennefeld03 Před 8 měsíci +12

    As a Saskatchewanian I view this as an absolute win

    • @LuminaryGames
      @LuminaryGames Před 8 měsíci +2

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

  • @matthewoolman1012
    @matthewoolman1012 Před 8 měsíci +5

    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.

  • @ABCantonese
    @ABCantonese Před 8 měsíci +12

    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
      @kme Před 8 měsíci +2

      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
    @DaveAtUofL Před 8 měsíci +40

    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
      @Baldrick99 Před 8 měsíci +4

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

    • @raymiemiller1455
      @raymiemiller1455 Před 8 měsíci

      It still affects US waters though

    • @danielb2571
      @danielb2571 Před 8 měsíci +1

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

    • @danielb2571
      @danielb2571 Před 8 měsíci

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

    • @raymiemiller1455
      @raymiemiller1455 Před 8 měsíci

      @@danielb2571 Depends how how much he spiked it

  • @eliteninnja2892
    @eliteninnja2892 Před 8 měsíci +37

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

    • @bradneubauer4694
      @bradneubauer4694 Před 8 měsíci +9

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

    • @Hazaerdt
      @Hazaerdt Před 7 měsíci

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

    • @bradneubauer4694
      @bradneubauer4694 Před 7 měsíci

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

    • @nickharland3795
      @nickharland3795 Před 7 měsíci +1

      @@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
      @katrinabryce Před měsícem

      @@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.

  • @caylawalker134
    @caylawalker134 Před 8 měsíci +3

    YESS, we love a river bi-con

  • @guszun18
    @guszun18 Před 8 měsíci +4

    0:38 my immediate first thought 👏🏼

  • @bradgillette3325
    @bradgillette3325 Před 7 měsíci +2

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

  • @dylanattix2765
    @dylanattix2765 Před 8 měsíci +7

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

  • @FalbertForester
    @FalbertForester Před 8 měsíci +2

    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.

  • @brandy1262
    @brandy1262 Před 8 měsíci +2

    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.

  • @cg62262
    @cg62262 Před 8 měsíci +4

    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! 😁

  • @gilliesuarez
    @gilliesuarez Před 8 měsíci +7

    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
      @kevinharms5158 Před 7 měsíci

      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

  • @sevyswift7956
    @sevyswift7956 Před 8 měsíci +4

    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.

  • @EnormousPurpleGarden
    @EnormousPurpleGarden Před 8 měsíci +7

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

    • @waynemaddison2494
      @waynemaddison2494 Před 8 měsíci +3

      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
      @czbbflier Před 7 měsíci

      @@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.

  • @Syn_1
    @Syn_1 Před 8 měsíci +7

    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
      @EnormousPurpleGarden Před 8 měsíci +3

      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
      @idriveastationwagon1534 Před 8 měsíci +1

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

    • @VinceP1974
      @VinceP1974 Před 12 dny

      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

  • @davidbarts6144
    @davidbarts6144 Před 8 měsíci +2

    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.

  • @-i1007
    @-i1007 Před 8 měsíci +3

    5:40 the best joke sam ever made

  • @Mohamed-om2xv
    @Mohamed-om2xv Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @destrygriffith3972
    @destrygriffith3972 Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @revcrussell
    @revcrussell Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @jul1440
    @jul1440 Před měsícem +1

    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.

  • @verylostdoommarauder
    @verylostdoommarauder Před 21 dnem +1

    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.

  • @mattr8750
    @mattr8750 Před 8 měsíci +1

    This was full as interesting! Liked this one

  • @soaringChris
    @soaringChris Před 8 měsíci +4

    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

  • @froglady7491
    @froglady7491 Před 3 měsíci

    Thanks! Always appreciate learning odd facts!

  • @timothylee8494
    @timothylee8494 Před 8 měsíci +3

    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

  • @garbageflowers
    @garbageflowers Před 8 měsíci +1

    i love your videos so much. keep it up

  • @VTPSTTU
    @VTPSTTU Před 8 měsíci

    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.

  • @safebox36
    @safebox36 Před 8 měsíci +12

    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
      @SleepyHarryZzz Před 8 měsíci +8

      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
      @ryanthompson3737 Před 8 měsíci

      ​@@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
      @SleepyHarryZzz Před 8 měsíci +1

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

    • @AlanTheBeast100
      @AlanTheBeast100 Před 8 měsíci +1

      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.

  • @Davidsavage8008
    @Davidsavage8008 Před 8 měsíci +4

    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
    @chrisbradley1192 Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @HeisenbergFam
    @HeisenbergFam Před 8 měsíci +25

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

    • @lewkeee
      @lewkeee Před 8 měsíci

      R u from braking bad

    • @nlarson
      @nlarson Před 8 měsíci +1

      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
      @hypenheimer Před 8 měsíci

      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 CZcams 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.

  • @tonymckeage1028
    @tonymckeage1028 Před 3 měsíci

    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

  • @laserduck4238
    @laserduck4238 Před 7 měsíci +1

    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

  • @kvetter
    @kvetter Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @nkmcquain
    @nkmcquain Před 8 měsíci +2

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

  • @philipcraig6230
    @philipcraig6230 Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @raymondeichler442
    @raymondeichler442 Před 7 měsíci

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

  • @fernandonagle
    @fernandonagle Před 3 měsíci

    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.

  • @alexrowaan7326
    @alexrowaan7326 Před 8 měsíci +12

    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
      @jaysmith1408 Před 8 měsíci +1

      Alberta and BC.
      It bothered me too

    • @clvrswine
      @clvrswine Před 8 měsíci

      The eternal inferiority complex of Canadians.

  • @johnchandler1687
    @johnchandler1687 Před 8 měsíci +2

    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
      @wailinburnin Před 2 měsíci

      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.

  • @skhull2
    @skhull2 Před 8 měsíci +2

    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!

  • @danielcarroll5667
    @danielcarroll5667 Před 8 měsíci

    Great video , thanks !

  • @Panache_
    @Panache_ Před 8 měsíci +3

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

  • @WanderingExistence
    @WanderingExistence Před 8 měsíci +12

    Issac Newton determines where water goes.

    • @ryanthompson3737
      @ryanthompson3737 Před 8 měsíci +3

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

  • @shredderly
    @shredderly Před 8 měsíci +10

    Bisexual Wyoming straight rawdoggin' both sides of the continent.

  • @wordsmithgmxch
    @wordsmithgmxch Před 24 dny

    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.

  • @mattlien5844
    @mattlien5844 Před 8 měsíci

    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.

  • @Wintersmith12
    @Wintersmith12 Před 8 měsíci +2

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

  • @haydent4461
    @haydent4461 Před 8 měsíci +3

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

  • @yuckyool
    @yuckyool Před 8 měsíci

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

  • @xrich1577
    @xrich1577 Před 5 dny

    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.

  • @Miamcoline
    @Miamcoline Před 8 měsíci +1

    That *was* super interesting! Thank you!

  • @wadesaxton6079
    @wadesaxton6079 Před 3 měsíci

    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

  • @WinchCycle
    @WinchCycle Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @1.4142
    @1.4142 Před 8 měsíci +1

    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
      @wades623 Před 8 měsíci

      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

  • @Jsmith2024
    @Jsmith2024 Před 4 měsíci

    Never knew there was such a place. Thanks!

  • @9ED6F5E1
    @9ED6F5E1 Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @TheCriminalViolin
    @TheCriminalViolin Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @joshuabessire9169
    @joshuabessire9169 Před 8 měsíci +3

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

  • @dalegraham53
    @dalegraham53 Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @gregs2509
    @gregs2509 Před 7 měsíci

    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!

  • @danielsprouls9458
    @danielsprouls9458 Před 8 měsíci

    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.

  • @RandomRetallingsofRiggins
    @RandomRetallingsofRiggins Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @RRW359
    @RRW359 Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @ngeteengetee7589
    @ngeteengetee7589 Před 8 měsíci +5

    Hey HAI, as a dude who lives in regina saskatchewan, you pronounced saskatchewanians wrong, you did it like hawian, but its more of a wan as in want but removing the T sound(around the 3:55 mark

  • @mnorth1351
    @mnorth1351 Před 8 měsíci +1

    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.

  • @jchavins
    @jchavins Před 3 měsíci

    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

  • @deannelson9565
    @deannelson9565 Před 8 měsíci

    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!

  • @jacobzacharias356
    @jacobzacharias356 Před 8 měsíci

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

  • @nunyabiznes33
    @nunyabiznes33 Před 8 měsíci +1

    What flows in the Great Basin, stays in the Great Basin.

  • @its_sun7906
    @its_sun7906 Před 7 měsíci

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

  • @kennethlee2278
    @kennethlee2278 Před 3 měsíci

    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.

  • @Jacobadia
    @Jacobadia Před 8 měsíci +3

    Finally! The NorthWest Passage! Quick someone go tell Lewis and Clark!

  • @tonychinn
    @tonychinn Před 2 měsíci

    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."

  • @yutahkotomi1195
    @yutahkotomi1195 Před 8 měsíci +3

    What's the difference between a lake that drains into both oceans and a river that drains into both oceans? Aren't they both a body of water that connects the Pacific and the Atlantic???

  • @pyropulseIXXI
    @pyropulseIXXI Před 8 měsíci +1

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

  • @rahulblaze13
    @rahulblaze13 Před 8 měsíci +1

    1:17 Thankyou for showing Hyderabad, India

  • @JC-mi8fw
    @JC-mi8fw Před 3 měsíci

    What a good video. Well done

  • @paulhaugen8124
    @paulhaugen8124 Před 8 měsíci +1

    Loved the Saskatchewan shoutout 👍