Have You Ever Wondered Where the Snake River Begins?

Most of us learned that all rivers feed the ocean in grade school but have you ever wondered about where the Snake River originates? We found this interactive map that traces all rivers back to their source.

There's an interactive map on USGS and you can explore America's larger streams and trace any of them to their source (above), or you can trace them to where they empty, (below). You can see here where the Snake gets it's start, as well as all the streams that feed it, and how it merges with the Columbia River and spills into Pacific Ocean on the Oregon coast near Astoria.

At first, I wasn't sure if this tool was a worthwhile diversion, but after plotting the Snake and bunch of other neighboring streams, I have admit I killed a good 30 minutes playing with this map. Try guessing where any particular stream comes from and check the results... I'll bet you'll be surprised more than a few times.