Continental Divide of the Americas

The Continental Divide (English Continental Divide ) is a mountain ridge in North and Central America, which separates the basins of those rivers from one another, flowing in different oceans. This is the Pacific Ocean ( to the west ), the Arctic Ocean ( north ) and the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Mexico ( to the southeast ). However, it is a simplified representation, as there is endorheic ( endorheic ) areas in North America. The largest such area is the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah with streamers to California, Oregon and Idaho.

The majority of the watershed follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains. It begins in Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska and first runs eastward into the Canadian Yukon Territory, and then south to British Columbia, where it forms the border with the province of Alberta. Then it runs through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in the United States to Mexico and Central America along the ridge Sierra Madre Occidental.

The watershed point with drainage in all three oceans is the Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park in Montana. When the Hudson Bay, their assignment to the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean is controversial, the Atlantic assigns, there is yet another triple watershed in the Columbia Icefield in Canada.

Another peculiarity in the course of the watershed is the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming: Here it divides south of the South Pass in two arms enclosing a loose outflow area of about 10,000 sq km area. The Great Divide Basin is therefore within the continental watershed.

Along the continental watershed runs along the Continental Divide Trail, a 5,000 km long distance hiking trail between Mexico and Canada.