Triple Divide Peak: Montana's unique liquid 'crossroads' where water can flow into three oceans

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Triple Divide Peak in Montana is the only place on Earth where water can flow into one of three different oceans, according to some definitions.

View of Triple Divide Peak from Lion Rock in Glacier National Park. We see two lakes in front of the peak.
Triple Divide Peak is in Glacier National Park in Montana. (Image credit: Logic Images/Alamy)
QUICK FACTS

Name: Triple Divide Peak

Location: Glacier National Park, Montana

Coordinates: 48.5730, -113.5169

Why it's incredible: Water on the peak ultimately flows into one of three oceans.

Triple Divide Peak is a mountain in Montana's Glacier National Park where a drop of water could flow into one of three oceans: the Pacific, the Atlantic or the Arctic Ocean.

Other triple divides — also known as "hydrological apexes" — exist in the world, but Triple Divide Peak is the only place on Earth that links three oceans rather than three seas or a mix of seas and oceans. However, some experts dispute this.

Snowmelt from the peak can travel west through the Columbia River drainage basin and end up in the Pacific Ocean, or it can ride along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and into the Atlantic, according to the National Park Service. Alternatively, meltwater or raindrops landing on Triple Divide Peak can flow into Hudson Bay via the Saskatchewan River.

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The International Hydrographic Organization considers Hudson Bay to be part of the Arctic Ocean, so by that reckoning, Triple Divide Peak feeds three separate oceans.

The peak sits on North America's Continental Divide, an imaginary line that runs through the Rocky Mountains and separates major river systems flowing to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Triple Divide Peak is one of just two hydrological apexes on the Continental Divide and across North America, the other one being Snow Dome in Canada.

Meltwater from Snow Dome can flow into the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River, into the Arctic Ocean via the Mackenzie River or into Hudson Bay via the Nelson River. Some scientists argue that Hudson Bay is part of the Atlantic Ocean, so in their view, Snow Dome is the only triple divide on Earth that connects three oceans. For them, water on Triple Divide Peak only flows into either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean.

Triple Divide Peak and Snow Dome also sit on other "great divides," with these divides marking out different watersheds. As well as the Continental Divide, Triple Divide Peak sits on the Laurentian Divide, which separates the Hudson Bay watershed to the north from the Gulf of Mexico watershed to the south. Snow Dome, meanwhile, sits on the Arctic Divide, which separates the Arctic Ocean watershed to the northwest from the Hudson Bay watershed to the southeast.

Discover more incredible places, where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.

Sascha Pare
Sascha Pare
Staff writer

Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.

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