Glacier National Park, on the US side, and Waterton National Park, on the Canadian side, are two parks which, together, form a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and an International Peace Park, the world's first. Running through Glacier National Park, from its western edge to its eastern edge, is a road named
Going to the Sun Road. Along the road are many interesting sights, as well as roadside pullouts with informational plaques pointing out particular natural features along the road.
About 4.2 miles southwest along Going to the Sun Road from the park's eastern boundary is a pullout on the north side of Saint Mary Lake with this marker. It points out a mountain off to the south named Triple Divide Peak. The mountain achieved its name from the fact that snowmelt and rain water that falls on the mountain will, depending on which side of the mountain it fell, ultimately find its way to the Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay's, or the Gulf of Mexico.
Water which flows westward will eventually join the Columbia River, the largest North American River west of the Rockies, which empties into the Pacific. Water which flows northeast will eventually reach the Saskatchewan River and thereby Hudson's Bay. Water flowing to the southeast will find the Missouri, which will empty into the Mississippi then travel southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
The writers of the American Guide Series book
Montana, A State Guide made note of Triple Divide Peak when they passed through Glacier National Park, as witnessed below.
TRIPLE DIVIDE PEAK
Junction with US 89 Rocky Mountain Trail Ranch; 6 m.
The road branches west from US 89 (see Tour 4) at CUT BANK BRIDGE, m. (see Tour 4, sec. a), following Cut Bank Creek through
open and brushy country cut by many cattle trails.
CUT BANK RANGER STATION (R) is at 5 m., and a small CAMPGROUND (R) at 5.5 m. in a grove of pines and fir.
Near the bank of the creek is the ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRAIL RANCH,
6 m., with the former Cut Bank Chalets; it is now a dude ranch. At the
head of this valley is
TRIPLE DIVIDE PEAK (8,001 alt.), from which
creeks, appropriately named Atlantic, Pacific, and Hudson Bay, flow to
the three oceans touching North America.
From Montana, A State Guide Book, Page 393
From this viewpoint, Triple Divide is just one of many peaks. But summit hikers experience a vast alpine world: a 360-degree panorama of glaciated peaks and wilderness valleys.
Triple Divide Peak is more than a two-ocean Continental Divide. From its three-sided pyramid, rain and snowmelt travel to three major river systems and enter the Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Text from the Marker