Is it possible to cross the US lengthwise by boat?

Define "boat".

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Amphicar-stuttgart-2005.jpg

Hardloper wrote:

You can easily get from the Pacific well into Idaho. The Missouri River starts in Idaho and connects to the Mississippi. You could probably get very close with minimal land crossing

Here's a map showing the Snake River and Missouri River, which both connect to Yellowstone and get within ~10 miles of each other near the continental divide

oarsman wrote:

I'm talking ocean to ocean. If not, how far inland could you get?

**Looks at Rocky Mountains**

Nah, I don't think so man.

This map is interesting. It shows that the Missouri and the Snake Rivers begin fairly close to each other. With a 45 minute drive through Yellowstone NP, you can get out of one major river and go down another major river without much trouble. Two dozen other portages would be required to make it around dams and waterfalls on the two rivers, but overall it seems pretty straightforward.

Of course, if the whole premise of the question is "can I cross the U.S. without getting out of my boat at all?" then the answer is no.

Not that these creeks would be navigable way up there, but there's only about 300 meters between a tributary to the Colorado River and a tributary to the Platte.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3850469,-106.5852387,15z

knox harrington wrote:

To me it's against the spirit of the question to route through the bodies of water that form the USA borders.

If you disagree, there's no need for the Hudson > Erie Canal > Lake Ontario > Welland Canal > Lake Erie > Detroit River > St. Clair River/lake> Lake Huron > Mackinac Strait > Lake Michigan > Illinois Waterway > Mississippi > Gulf > Rio Grande route.

Just go Atlantic > Gulf > Rio Grande.

yeah i thought about that. i feel like the question should be rephrased to can you go from the tip of north east maine to the pacific border in south western california or tip of north western washington to the most southern and western point in florida

Hardloper wrote:

You can easily get from the Pacific well into Idaho. The Missouri River starts in Idaho and connects to the Mississippi. You could probably get very close with minimal land crossing

once the missouri gets into western idaho it starts heading south into yellowstone. there might be a few rivers off of it that go more western but it might just be a waste of time as those might be fed from rocky mountains in canada which wouldn't work for this question. i'm not exactly sure since i close my google maps tab a few hours ago but the closest i was able to get to the pacific ocean while staying on the Missouri was around 600 miles

Hardloper wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

You can easily get from the Pacific well into Idaho. The Missouri River starts in Idaho and connects to the Mississippi. You could probably get very close with minimal land crossing

Here's a map showing the Snake River and Missouri River, which both connect to Yellowstone and get within ~10 miles of each other near the continental divide

https://o.quizlet.com/0444LUIAp.kCbXb97ZKPuw_b.png

i actually found a very good map for the colorado river basin since i was looking into if the rio grande ever went anywhere.

I have a bachelors in geography and I have dabbled in the question posed by the OP a few times. One piece of advice I would give anybody trying to attempt this is to not do the Colorado river. There's plenty of stories of people that have tried and it's a real bummer when you get near the Gulf of California and it turns to literal feces and runs dry.

Read about Lewis & Clark. In my view, that's about the closest you can get.

Also, check out how Chicago actually sits on top of its own divide. Very interesting. I grew up there and never even realized the geographic significance of it. But it is the way through from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes.

This is an interesting question, and oarsman deserves credit for using the term "USA" instead of the ambiguous "America" to mean USA.

William Least Heat Moon describes his attempt to do this with minimum portage in his book River Horse. Up the Hudson, Erie Canal, canal from Lake Erie to Mississippi basin, then approximately the Lewis and Clark route.

Note the Colorado does not make it to the Pacific within USA, but into the Gulf of California by passing through a small part of Mexico with the last part mostly gone.

One interesting rarity is a pond in Yellowstone that feeds both the Columbia and Mississippi watersheds, at lest when the water is high enough. There is a much larger such area connecting the Orinoco and Amazon basins.

map maker wrote:

malmo wrote:

There are plenty of examples of "almost" but none of them will get you up to, and certainly not, other the continental divide.

Think about it, upstream in the Rocky Mountains. Emphasis on UP and STREAM.

maybe bypass the rockys completely? they end at the top of new mexico so maybe it would be possible to go along the border? the rio grande starts going up in el paso though so would have to find a river through a desert which is not easy.

Malmo didn't think about this very long. If you go the opposite way, you are going downstream in the Rocky Mountains. Emphasis on DOWN and STREAM.

800 dude wrote:

Not that these creeks would be navigable way up there, but there's only about 300 meters between a tributary to the Colorado River and a tributary to the Platte.

That's the solution. Make a boat that can get through somehow (indestructible turbo-powered kayak maybe) get it all the way upstream, then get out and dig a 300m canal.

If if it's never navigable, someone needs to do this so there will be officially water going all the way across.

If your boat is small enough, yes. You can get from the Atlantic to the Mississippi via the Great Lakes and various canals. Then head up the Missouri and then Yellowstone rivers. From yellow stone head up Atlantic creek to two oceans pass and then turn onto pacific creek. That will take you to the snake and then Columbia river and then to the pacific. Happy paddling

yesyoucan wrote:

If your boat is small enough, yes. You can get from the Atlantic to the Mississippi via the Great Lakes and various canals. Then head up the Missouri and then Yellowstone rivers. From yellow stone head up Atlantic creek to two oceans pass and then turn onto pacific creek. That will take you to the snake and then Columbia river and then to the pacific. Happy paddling

Wow, so there's basically a creek that straddles the continental divide?

Google BBC.

Take the St Lawrence through the Great Lakes--then you'd have to do some portage from Duluth to the St Croix River, which feeds into the Mississippi. Flow down to St Louis and follow Louis and Clark's voyage. You'll have to pack some.

Using a southern route note that the Upper Platte and Colorado Rivers are not navigable in the higher country. But could go that route and portage some 40 miles from North Park to Granby.

Of course you can't get a boat through the tiny narrow streams but if you were literally a little fish then you would be able to do it

Put your boat on a trailer and hook it up on your Ford F-100 and go for it!

oarsman wrote:

I'm talking ocean to ocean. If not, how far inland could you get?

Alright....

Are you talking Lengthwise or Widthwise?? Length is top to bottom and width is East to West coast. Get back on that high school remote learning feed and figure it out.