A Ride Around the Lake Pt 5 - Lily Pond Park

It's been eight years since I made the last post in this series, but I still have the pictures and vaguely remember my ride so I figured why not finish what I started. At this point I got off my bike and walked around a bit because I had never actually been in Lily Pond Park before so I took a fair amount of pictures in there.

I'll start off with a still of what you get a glimpse of when you speed by in your car:

Lake Ronkonkoma Lily Pond Park from Smithtown Blvd - Summer 2015

Lily Pond Park is quite beautiful and deserves better care than it gets. From what I've gathered, the local Boy Scouts and Four Harbors Audubon Society are making an effort which is promising.

This is what the entrance looked like:

Entrance to Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

This is a cycling blog after all so I figured it was about time to include a shot of my ride. 

As of 2023, the entrance doesn't look too different from the way it did eight years ago. Jason D Smagin is Commissioner now and not Greg Dawson, Steve Bellone is still County Executive, and they've added a sign designating it the Diane Spitz Memorial Preserve. While writing this I was happy to discover that nowadays there are regularly scheduled community cleanups on Earth Day in honor of Diane Spitz who helped take care of the park. As an aside, World Cleanup Day is this Saturday and is always on the third Saturday in September.

Anyhoo, right behind the gate you see in the picture above is this not so inviting sight: 

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

A crooked fence with busted barbed wire on top, almost like an abandoned prison. The signs say the park closes at dusk, dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after, no alcohol, no ice skating, park only in designated areas (what designated areas?), don't take or damage any plants or animals, and no dirtbikes or ATVs. The black box up on a pole in the top right is a bat house that was put up by Boy Scout Troop 197. There are a few of them throughout the park, which are a nice reminder that there actually are people making an effort. They help control the mosquito population too.

As I recall, I didn't go through the gap in the fence initially, probably because it would've felt like trespassing, but there was a trail off to the right, which looked like this:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Most of the trail was pretty narrow with a low canopy like this so hopefully that would discourage people from taking dirt bikes and ATVs through here. I left the bike locked up out front for the same reason. Perfect size for walking though. 

Throughout the trail there were lots of gaps in the foliage that offered a nice view of the pond, like this one:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Or this one:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Zoom out a bit though and you see this:

Garbage in Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Just like the lake across the street, it's really pretty, but some people trash it and don't seem to care. This far into the the park you know this garbage wasn't just carried here by the wind after a raccoon knocked over a garbage can; somebody brought it in here and left it here. Pretty sad. As I mentioned above, there are community cleanups every Earth Day so I imagine it looks a bit different by now.

A little ways down I took the picture that I'm using as a backdrop for the blog:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

I liked this one in particular because the tree on the right helps frame the sky in the center both on the top of the shot and in the reflection on the water.

Here's a bat house with a water view:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Here's a shot of what I reckon are the lilies that the pond is named after: 

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

If you look closely though, that's not a red Christmas bauble hanging from that branch, but a bobber left behind by someone fishing.

I don't recall seeing any fish, but I do remember hearing frogs plop into the water as I walked along. They were so skittish though I unfortunately didn't get a picture of one.

Here's a bird house on the other side of the water:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

 

The muddy banks make me think the water level must go up and down a fair amount from time to time.

Another shot of the green canopied trail: 

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Some would call this overgrown, but I thought it was kind of cool. It makes the park feel a bit more remote, even if you can still hear the traffic on Smithtown Blvd.

Another nice shot of the pond:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Again I had to include another perspective to get the full picture:

Garbage in Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

A shoe! A freakin' shoe! Drinks and food wrappers are gross too, but at least they make sense, like I can imagine someone sitting by the water and having something to eat or drink then being a slob and leaving their garbage behind, but how did someone end up leaving a single shoe here!? Feel free to make up a story and share in the comments.

This is from the same spot, just looking left:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Another bat house with a view of the water. 

I liked this shot below because there was a narrow sort of tunnel at eye level where you could see through the foliage and across the water:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

A bat house right above the trail. Sadly you can see some garbage on the ground here too:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

And then there was this nest of fishing line tangled in a branch:

Garbage in Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

I used to fish a fair amount as a kid, and I've definitely had my line get snagged on logs in the water where all I could do was cut it, but with this much brush, I don't know why anyone would think this would be a good place to fish in the first place. There's no space to cast, let alone reel your line back in without it getting stuck somewhere.

But I digress. I was happy to get a shot of a dragonfly perched by the water:

Dragonfly in Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Fun fact: dragonfly nymphs eat mosquito larvae!

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Another pathway leading down to the water:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

This path had a lot of gravel which I thought was interesting:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

If you look more closely, you can see chunks of asphalt from what used to be a road:

Asphalt from old road through Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

In case you're still skeptical, here's where it's really obvious that this used to be a road:

Remains of old road in Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

Looks like the ground was eroded out from the bottom until the whole section sunk into the water. Or maybe the water level was lower? If anyone reading knows more about this old road, please share in the comments.

From satellite pictures it looks like what's now the fenced off entrance used to be part of Steuben Blvd and from there continued to the derelict section of Lake Shore Road:

Lily Pond Park from Google Maps Satellite View - 2023

Lily Pond Park from Google Maps Satellite View with marking of former roadway

The walkable trails from this picture series are in the crow's foot in the middle of the pond and the loop immediately around it. It seemed like the only way in or out of this section was from the entrance on Smithtown Blvd. There are signs for Lily Pond Park on Steuben, but it seemed like the trails there don't connect to the section on Smithtown Blvd.

I understand closing access to automobile through traffic, but I think it'd be pretty cool if they made a walking trail extending from the end of Steuben, through Lily Pond Park to Smithtown Blvd with a crosswalk across, and then have the trail end on Lake Shore Road where you can still see the remains of a t-intersection. 

People living around Steuben Blvd could comfortably walk to Lake Ronkonkoma (anyone wanna increase their home value?) which would help tie Lily Pond Park into the Lake Ronkonkoma Park across the street. On the one hand more foot traffic might mean more litter, but more "eyes on the street" might also discourage people from littering.

Anyhoo, I'll end this one with a final shot of the water surrounded by greenery:

Lily Pond Park - Summer 2015

In my next post I'll share some shots from the route along Lake Shore Road between here and Raynor Park. If you were as sad as I was that I didn't get any pictures of frogs in Lily Pond Park, I got one by the lake off Lake Shore Road so you have something to look forward to!