A Backwards Lake

   In the southern part of Yellowstone National Park, adjacent to the southwest part of the "Figure Eight" road in the park, sits a tiny little lake called Isa Lake. It is really more of a pond than a lake. The water surface fluctuates very little and is usually covered with yellow pond lilies. Isa Lake sits directly on top of the Continental Divide at the summit of Craig Pass, which is 8,262 feet above sea level. What makes this otherwise insignificant little pond famous is this: Since it sits directly on top of the Continental Divide, the waters of the lake drain to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is not the only body of water that does this, but it is the only body of water, in the world, that drains to two different oceans backwards. You see, the small stream that flows west out of the lake winds up draining to the Atlantic Ocean, to the east, while the stream that flows out the east side of the lake drains west to the Pacific Ocean. That small stream that flows west out of Isa Lake connects to the Firehole River, which flows into the Madison River, which flows into the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean.  The tiny stream that flows east out of Isa Lake connects to DeLacy Creek, which flows into Shoshone Lake, which drains into the Lewis River and the Lewis River then passes through Lewis Lake on its way to the Snake River. The Snake River flows into the Columbia River and the Columbia River flows directly into the Pacific Ocean between Oregon and Washington.
 Isa Lake was discovered in 1891, nineteen years after Yellowstone National Park was created, by Henry Chittenden when he was surveying a route for a road to connect the Old Faithful Geyser to the West Thumb area and its accompanying geyser basin.