Wallkill River | |
---|---|
Native name | Twischsawkin |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | New York, New Jersey |
Counties | Ulster, NY, Orange, NY, Sussex, NJ |
Cities | New Paltz, NY, Walden, NY, Montgomery, NY, Sparta, NJ |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Lake Mohawk, New Jersey |
• location | Sparta, Sussex County, NJ |
• coordinates | 41°01′58″N 74°38′38″W / 41.03278°N 74.64389°W |
• elevation | 720 ft (220 m) |
Mouth | Rondout Creek |
• location | Rifton, Ulster County, NY |
• coordinates | 41°51′13″N 74°02′55″W / 41.85361°N 74.04861°W |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
Length | 88 mi (142 km)[1] |
Basin size | 785 sq mi (2,030 km2)[2] |
Discharge | |
• location | Gardiner, NY[3] |
• average | 1,365 cu ft/s (38.7 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Shawangunk Kill |
• right | Papakating Creek |
The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly 88.3 miles (142.1 km)[1] to Rondout Creek in New York, just downstream of Sturgeon Pool, near Rosendale, with the combined flows reaching the Hudson at Kingston.
The river is unusual because it flows north between two major south-flowing rivers, the Hudson and the Delaware River. It also has the unusual distinction of being a river that drains into a creek, due to being impounded shortly before the Rondout confluence into a small body of water called Sturgeon Pool near Rifton, and what reaches the Rondout from there is the lesser flow.