Two Ocean Pass is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

, in the

Teton Wilderness Teton Wilderness is located in Wyoming, United States. Created in 1964, the Teton Wilderness is located within Bridger-Teton National Forest and consists of 585,238 acres (2,370 km2). The wilderness is bordered on the north by Yellowstone Nat ...

, which is part of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

's Bridger-Teton National Forest. The pass is notable for Parting of the Waters, where one stream, North Two Ocean Creek, splits into two

distributaries A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary ...

, Pacific Creek and Atlantic Creek, at Parting of the Waters

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

. These two creeks ultimately flow into their respective

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

s. Atlantic Creek water eventually flows into the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

and empties into the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri River and

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. Pacific Creek water eventually flows into the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

and empties into the Pacific via the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

Recreation

The

Continental Divide Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail (CDT)) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico a ...

reaches this location in northern

. It is accessible by foot or horseback from the south via Brooks Lake Trail head off of Highway 287 or from the north via an extensive hike from Fox Park near Yellowstone National Park's southern border.

Fish dispersal

The pass is thought to have provided access for the

Yellowstone cutthroat trout The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri'') is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii''). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). Native only to a few U.S. states, their ...

to have colonized

Yellowstone Lake Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is above sea level and covers with of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is , its greatest depth is at least . Yellowstone Lake is the largest fre ...

and the rest of the

watershed above Lower Falls. Similarly, it has been considered as an alternative explanation for the arrival of non-native

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

in Yellowstone Lake, which has traditionally been attributed to illegal or accidental

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparen ...

Gallery

File:PSM V47 D187 Two ocean pass looking east.jpg, A drawing made in 1894 of Two Ocean Pass with a view to the northeast.Barton Warren Evermann: Two-Ocean Pass. In: Popular Science Monthly. V. 47, 1895, pp. 175–186
/ref> Atlantic Creek exits the pass between the hills in the upper center part of the image. Pacific Creek exits to the southwest in the bottom center of the image. North Two Oceans Creek enters from the left top center of the image and divides into its two distributaries and South Two Ocean Creek enters from the right center of the image and is also shown dividing into two streams. Evermann Creek also enters the area from the west (left center, just above the tents). File:Two oceans parting.JPG, Here Two Ocean Creek splits in two directions on the Continental Divide. Water on the left in this 2011 photo goes to the Atlantic and water on the right to the Pacific Ocean.

References

External links

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

website. * {{authority control Mountain passes of Wyoming National Natural Landmarks in Wyoming Great Divide of North America Protected areas of Teton County, Wyoming Bridger–Teton National Forest Mountain passes of Teton County, Wyoming