this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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Uh… is there a waterway that crosses the Rocky Mountains this way? That doesn’t seem right.
Edit: after some searching I found this, which I suspect is the basis of this connection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parting_of_the_Waters
There's a Half as Interesting video about this topic:
The Only River That Flows Into Both the Atlantic and the Pacific
That’ll definitely be it. It’s like the “Cornwall is an island” thing, as there’s a pond there with a river going to the north coast and another to the south.
Explain xkcd #2838.
Similar: Minnesota has a tri-point where water flows to the Atlantic (via Lake Superior), Gulf of Mexico (via Mississippi River) or up to the Hudson Bay (via the Boundary Waters)
none of these are true. that's kind of the joke. it's an oddly specific hydrology/geology joke
I mean making shit up isn’t a joke though. I feel like the humor needs to be based on something real.
Most of the other “islands” are formed by man made canals, so I’m curious what the situation in the Rockies is that allows them to argue those rivers connect.
You must be fun at parties
You know it.
Isa Lake in Yellowstone Park feeds into tributaries of the Snake (which flows into the Columbia to the Pacific) and the Yellowstone (which flows into the Missouri to the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico).
Thanks. That seems to be the origin of the extra braid that crosses the Rockies on the map.
Doesn’t the Colorado go south west from the Rockies, which would make more of these islands?
Only if it’s connected by water to the other major rivers. But I’m not sure if it is.