02/17/2026
A continental divide is an imaginary hydrologic line that runs along the ridgeline of mountains and acts as the watershed determining which way waters will flow to the sea. There are continental divides all over the world, and the one in the western US that we often call “The Continental Divide” can more specifically be called “The Great Divide”.
While it might be an imaginary line, it has real world implications on other imaginary lines. For a large part of its course through Colorado, it plays a significant role in county boundaries.
Lake County can be viewed as an irregular rectangle shape. The left (western) and top (northern) portions of the rectangle are inspired by the Continental Divide.
On the west side, it runs through the Sawatch Range, which contains the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains, Mount Elbert, though it is not on the divide itself. It separates Lake and Pitkin counties.
It then turns eastward and creates the entire northern border of Lake County with Eagle and Summit counties. Tennessee Creek begins at the divide and merges with the East Fork Arkansas River to form the Arkansas River.
