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There's a creek like this in Banff National Park in Canada [1]. It is amazingly fake. It was rebuilt when I was younger and the rocks that keep the creek in pla
by cjensen 9y ago
There's a creek like this in Banff National Park in Canada [1]. It is amazingly fake. It was rebuilt when I was younger and the rocks that keep the creek in place are not found upstream or downstream of the divide. Before it was rebuilt, it flowed into a marshy area and trickled off to both sides. My guess is that it was originally constructed by the railroad (which is right next to it) as a tourist attraction when crossing the divide.
The problem with a divide creek is that it is inherently unstable. One of the sides will erode more quickly than the other, which diverts the water and erodes the remaining side to permanently capture the water.
I note that photos of the Wyoming creek show a suspicious number of rocks in perfect place diverting some water off to the lesser branch. Perhaps someone has been fighting off the inevitable end of the fork.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_Creek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_Creek
- username223 9y agoMaybe someone has been hiking out there to maintain the creek, but that's some serious middle-of-nowhere territory, so I doubt it. Also, it's depicted as a big flat marsh on the USGS 7.5' maps, so I imagine it doesn't experience much erosion.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mannykannot 9y agoIt is a day's hike from the roadhead, on an established trail, and at the point of the split, the water flows freely. The run-off from a single storm could be enough to close off one branch, and if left to its own devices, this fork would probably open and close repeatedly before settling on one direction. Pics and more info: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/09/parting-of-waters-creek-that-flows-into.html http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/09/parting-of-waters-creek...
- username223 9y agoThanks! That website is a JavaScript-soaked nightmare, but I'll try to check it out when I'm next in the area (and maybe even do some creek maintenance ;-).
- franciscop 9y agoI came to comment exactly the same as your last 2 paragraphs. The article notes: "One of its most popular hikes is a fifteen-mile trek to see a branching of Two Ocean Creek called "Parting of the Waters."" You would guess that there is people interested in guiding others on these hikes. Or maybe regular hikers just don't want to see it gone! Or even maybe it hasn't yet eroded, any of these would be perfectly valid explanations.
- duxup 9y agoYeah when I played in my sandbox as a child (not with my kids recently or anything....) and tried to get multiple flows from one source inevitably there was some difference between the two outlets and one would capture all the water.