The Forked River Mountains are not really mountains but sand and gravel hills that peak at 184 feet above sea level in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
But that’s high enough to give hikers a view of a vast, flat, unbroken stretch of forest.
This week, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) donated 3,100 acres in the Forked River Mountain area to Ocean County for permanent preservation. The county had already purchased 7,860 acres of pine barrens for $15.5 million in 2019, including the two ”mountains” known as East Mountain and Pine Hill.
