The Great Divide, sometimes called the Continental Divide, is a line of high terrain at the crest of the continent that forms the boundary between two great continental watersheds in North America. From this point, land to the east drains toward rivers that coalesce and empty into the Atlantic Ocean at the Gulf of Mexico, while land to the west drains toward the Pacific. Within these two major watersheds are many secondary watersheds, each serving a major river or lake. A few miles southwest of Togwotee Pass, Three Waters Mountain forms a juncture point between three such watersheds, so that depending on where it lands on the slope, a drop of rain or flake of snow may flow into the Colorado, the Columbia, or the Missouri rivers. Two raindrops that fall only yards apart may end up thousands of miles apart by the time they reach the ocean.
