Established in 1993, High Mountain Park Preserve is jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy, Wayne Township and the State of New Jersey. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has assisted with creating and maintaining trails at the site since the 1940s. Visitors can take TNC’s High Mountain Challenge to try to beat a NJ ultramarathoner’s tim...
Established in 1993, High Mountain Park Preserve is jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy, Wayne Township and the State of New Jersey. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has assisted with creating and maintaining trails at the site since the 1940s. Visitors can take TNC’s High Mountain Challenge to try to beat a NJ ultramarathoner’s time (15 minutes and 3 seconds) to the summit, 800 feet above sea level.
The mountain's bedrock, of volcanic origin, dates back over 130 million years. The Franklin Clove section of the preserve boasts prehistoric rock shelters. High Mountain has a rich history that is almost literally unbelievable. Before European settlement, Franklin Clove was home to the Lenni Lenape people—as far as ten thousand years ago its cliffs were inhabited by their ancestors who made lean-to structures against overhanging rocks. There are rumors that during the American Revolution George Washington’s soldiers used High Mountain to watch the movements of British ships in New York harbor—skyscrapers now block the view of the water, but the view of New York City lends credence to this tale.
The preserve wasn’t protected for bats, however, and it wasn’t protected for history, it was protected for a rare plant called Torrey’s mountain mint. The plant still survives in the preserve and has now become an unexpected umbrella species of sorts, protecting Northern long-eared bats that nobody had foreseen would be threatened.
