| Wawayanda Mountain | |
|---|---|
 Wawayanda Mountain from the Vernon Valley | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 1,470 ft (450 m) |
| Coordinates | 41°11′51″N74°27′43″W / 41.19750°N 74.46194°W /41.19750; -74.46194 |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Location | Sussex County,New Jersey, U.S. |
| Parent range | Appalachian Mountains |
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Wawayanda Mountain is aridge in theNew York-New Jersey Highlands region of theAppalachian Mountains. Thesummit lies withinSussex County, New Jersey.
Wawayanda Mountain stretches over 7,500 acres (30 km2) of land, which consists of deciduous forest with areas of scrub-shrub and coniferous woods.[1]
Wawayanda Mountain andPochuck Mountain to the west, form the borders of the Vernon Valley, an important farming and mining area of New Jersey drained by Pochuck Creek. The mountain is a temperate rainforest, gaining an average of more than 54 inches of rain each year. It receives more rainfall than anywhere else in the entire state of New Jersey due to the orographic precipitation effect.[2][3][4]
TheAppalachian Trail runs over the top of the ridge withinWawayanda State Park.
Wawayanda Mountain is part of theReading Prong of theNew England Uplands—a subprovince of theNew England province of theAppalachian Highlands. The rocks that formed Wawayanda Mountain came from the same composition of the mountain belt nearby. This belt, i.e. the Reading Prong, consists of ancient crystallinemetamorphic rocks. The New England province as a whole, along with theBlue Ridge province further south, are often together referred to as theCrystalline Appalachians. This extends as far as north of theGreen Mountains ofVermont and as far as south of theBlue Ridge Mountains. Although a portion of the belt remains below the Earth's surface through part ofPennsylvania, Crystalline Appalachians are distinct from the parallel Sedimentary Appalachians which run fromGeorgia to New York. The nearbyKittatinny Mountains are also made from these sedimentary formations.
Mammals inhabiting Wawayanda Mountain includeblack bear andwhite-tailed deer.