Craig Pass carries the Grand Loop over the Continental Divide at 8,262 feet, and Isa Lake sits right on top of it, a small pond with a large reputation. Its two ends once drained toward opposite oceans, one end bound for the Pacific and the other for the Atlantic, the reverse of what a map would suggest. If that still happens, it happens only at peak snowmelt after a snowy winter. Parking is on the left for eastbound drivers. The stop works as a stretch midway along the road from the geysers to the big lake. The Divide is crossed twice on this road, a result of an 1891 order from Congress for the shortest practicable route. The pass was named for Ida M. Craig.
You can stand on the Continental Divide in about a quarter mile. Isa Lake has a lot on your left, so pull in. You're at Craig Pass, eight thousand two hundred sixty-two feet. Hiram Chittenden wrote that this little lake rests squarely upon the doubtful ground between the two oceans. Its east side once drained to the Pacific and its west side to the Atlantic, probably the only lake on Earth running backwards to two oceans. Yes, backwards. These days it may happen only at the peak of snowmelt after a deep-snow winter. The road crosses the Divide twice between Old Faithful and West Thumb, and you can blame Congress. In eighteen ninety-one it required the shortest practicable route, so Chittenden passed up a longer way around Shoshone Lake and went straight over. The pass carries the name of Ida Craig, called in an old road log the first white woman to go this way. Turn left out of the lot. A mile and a half past the lake, on your right, Shoshone Point is the pullout Boone's bandit picked. Look that way if the trees allow.
Photo: NPS Photo, July 1987 (Accession No. 13795) · Public domain