AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Carlls River is a quiet, winding waterway that threads south through the Town of Babylon on Long Island, connecting a chain of lakes and ponds to the Great South Bay. Formed from underground springs to the north, this modest river passes through several beloved public parks—Belmont Lake State Park, Southards Pond, and Geiger Park—offering trails, fishing, paddling, and a surprising diversity of wildlife just steps from suburban life.↗↗
At roughly 4.2 miles from Belmont Lake to the bay, Carlls River (sometimes called Carll's Creek) is short in length but rich in what it offers a visitor: multi-use trails along its banks, spring-fed trout fishing, osprey nesting overhead, and a botanical garden that celebrates the river by name.↗↗
A River Defined by Its Parks
Carlls River doesn't announce itself with dramatic gorges or wide stretches of open water. Instead, it reveals itself in stages, flowing south through a series of public green spaces that have made it one of Long Island's most accessible natural corridors. The river begins from underground streams in the north, emerges at Geiger Lake on the Deer Park–Wyandanch border, passes through Belmont Lake in North Babylon, continues through Southards Pond and Argyle Lake in the Village of Babylon, and finally empties into the Great South Bay.
