Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Pacific Side of the Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas is the principal and mostly mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from the Bering Strait to the Strait of Magellan. It separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from  those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean (including those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea as well as the river systems that drain into the Arctic Ocean. There are other hydrological divides in the Americas but the Continental Divide is the most well known because it generally follows a line of high peaks along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains and Andes, at a generally much higher elevation than the other hydrological divisions. This image is on the Pacific side of Hoosier Pass.