Pochuck Mountain

Pochuck Mountain
White Birch Road within the Scenic Lakes community leading down one of the southwestern peaks of Pochuck Mountain.
Highest point
Elevation	1,194 ft (364 m)
Prominence	695 ft (212 m)
Coordinates	41°12′40″N 74°31′50″W / 41.21111°N 74.53056°W / 41.21111; -74.53056
Geography
Location	Sussex County, New Jersey / Orange County, New York, U.S.
Parent range	Appalachian Mountains
Topo map	USGS Pochuck Mountain

Pochuck Mountain is a ridge in the New York-New Jersey Highlands region of the Appalachian Mountains. Pochuck Mountain's summit and most of its peaks lie within Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, although the south-western portion of the ridge lies within Hardyston Township, and the north-eastern tip of the ridge extends over the New York state line into Orange County. The ridge marks the eastern edge of the Great Appalachian Valley, and it divides the watersheds of the Wallkill River and its tributary Pochuck Creek. The two rivers meet at Pochuck Neck, marking the terminus of the ridge.

The name Pochuck is a Lenape word meaning "out-of-the-way place." It may have named so because it is an outlier of the New York-New Jersey Highlands, separated from the rest of the region by the Vernon Valley. This separation gives Pochuck Mountain an unusually high prominence of approximately 695 feet.

Pochuck Mountain and Wawayanda Mountain to the east form the borders of the Vernon Valley, an important farming and mining area of New Jersey drained by Pochuck Creek. Immediately to the northwest of the ridge lies the Black Dirt Region, which is drained by the Wallkill River. Both valleys are part of an elongated lowland region known as the Great Appalachian Valley that divides the Appalachian Mountains for hundreds of miles. Due to the unusual positioning of Pochuck Mountain relative to the neighboring mountains, the Vernon Valley is somewhat of an isolated prong of the rest of the Great Appalachian Valley.