Boonton Gorge

The Boonton Gorge is a river gorge in Boonton, New Jersey where the Rockaway River drops over several waterfalls, and travels for slightly over a mile before emptying into the Jersey City Reservoir.

The Rockaway River flows through flat plains of Denville and Boonton Township. At this point elevation is 480 feet (150 m) above sea level. The Rockaway River spills over a man made dam that is six feet high in the town of Boonton. This is the beginning of the Boonton Gorge. This location is the Grace Lord Park at this point. This is where the Rockaway River begins its descent over the Ramapo Fault.

During the late Triassic Period when the North American Plate separated from the African Plate, an aborted rift system was created between the Ramapo Fault and a fault west of Paterson. A half graben was created and was filled with red bed sediment. The land between the Ramapo fault and the fault west of Paterson lowered, thus the Boonton Gorge was born.

The river flows over rocks then cascades over a thirty foot water fall into an oval shaped pool of water with a rock in the center. This pool is about fifty yards long and was a swimming hole until a local ordinance prohibited swimming in 1990 (Ord. 205-5). Then the river drops over a small falls of about seven feet and flows under an arched stone walk-way bridge. This is called the arch bridge. The river flows fast and drops into the second pool of water which is not as wide as the first pool above. The water moves at a medium pace through this oval shaped pool before it starts its non-stop descent to the Jersey City Reservoir. At the end of the second pool, the river narrows. The water picks up speed and starts its descent through iron ore rock. There are several rocks that are pointed, one behind the other. The river goes under a railroad bridge and then slows a little for about a hundred yards, when it drops over a three foot concrete USGS gauging station weir. Soon the river flows under Route 287. The river then follows the east side of Route 287. At this point the river drops forty feet in a quarter of a mile, when it finally empties into the Jersey City Reservoir. The final descent is through a boulder garden.

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