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.

It may have been 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.

Their waters are used for a variety of recreational purposes including fishing, swimming, boating and ice skating.

[3] Mammals inhabiting Pochuck Mountain include black bear, white-tailed deer, opossum, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, skunk, bobcat, fisher, porcupine, coyote, bats, chipmunks, groundhogs and field mice.

Today, a substantial portion of the southwestern face of the ridge near Scenic Lakes is being used by Raia Industries to support gneiss mining, which has raised substantial concern among local residents with regard to environmental degradation and habitat loss for native and migratory species.