The Ramapo Mountains are a forested chain of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

in northeastern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and southeastern New York, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. They range in height from in New Jersey, and in New York. Several parks and forest preserves encompass parts of the Ramapos (see Points of interest, below), and many hiking trails are in the Ramapos, including sections of the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...

, which is maintained and updated in the Ramapo Mountains by the

New York–New Jersey Trail Conference The New York – New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) is a volunteer-based federation of approximately 10,000 individual members and about 100 member organizations (mostly hiking clubs and environmental organizations). The conference coordin ...

. The mountains are named after the Ramapo Fault, which trends northeast to southwest, and separates the eastern

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

geologic province from the Highland province. The Ramapos are composed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

, and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, as old as 1.3 billion years.

Points of interest

* Bear Mountain State Park * Doodletown, New York * Harriman State Park *

Kakiat County Park New Hempstead is a village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of New Square, east of Wesley Hills, south of Pomona, and west of New City. The population was 5,132 at the 2010 census. Residents ...

Long Path The Long Path is a long-distance hiking trail beginning in New York City, at the West 175th Street subway station near the George Washington Bridge and ending at Altamont, New York, in the Albany area. While not yet a continuous trail, relyin ...

* Monksville Reservoir *

Ramapo Mountain State Forest Ramapo Mountain State Forest is a state forest in Bergen and Passaic Counties in New Jersey. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. The park offers hiking, hunting, canoeing, fishing (including i ...

Ramapo Valley County Reservation The Ramapo Valley County Reservation, also known as the Ramapo Reservation, is a county park located in Mahwah, New Jersey in Bergen County, bordering Ringwood State Park to the north and the Ramapo Mountain State Forest to the south. The park ...

Ringwood Manor Ringwood Manor, located in Passaic County, New Jersey, was the site of an ironworks and home to a number of well-known ironmasters from the 1740s to the late 19th century. The current manor house was not built until 1807. History Scottish engine ...

Ringwood State Park Ringwood State Park is a state park in Passaic County in northeastern New Jersey, USA. The Park is located in the heart of the Ramapo Mountains in Ringwood. Its forests are part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion. It contains ...

* New Jersey State Botanical Garden * Sterling Forest State Park * Kitty Ann Mountain, New Jersey

Flora and fauna

* Many types of plants, including

oak trees An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, cover the mountains. * Diverse wildlife, including

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

and

pheasants Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

, inhabit the Ramapo Mountains.

External links

Harriman Hikers

Palisades Interstate Park system Mountain ranges of New Jersey Mountain ranges of New York (state) Landforms of Orange County, New York Landforms of Rockland County, New York Landforms of Bergen County, New Jersey Landforms of Passaic County, New Jersey {{RocklandCountyNY-geo-stub

Points of interest

Flora and fauna

See also

External links