Continental Divide

The Continental Divide (aka the Great Divide), is a ridge of mountains in North America, which separates the streams that flow west into the Pacific Ocean from those that flow east into the Atlantic Ocean.

The majority of the divide follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains.

It begins in Alaska and continues into the Yukon Territory and British Columbia in Canada and then heads south through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico in the United States. It then continues south into Mexico and Central America following the crest of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

The lower portion of the border between the Canadian Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta is defined by the continental divide.

The Continental Divide Trail follows the divide through the U.S. from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.