The ridge is an extension of the Canadian Shield, with a landscape that is characterized by a mix of rocky outcrops, grassland, marshes, numerous shallow ponds, and patches of mature forest.

Typical to Canadian Shield, it has rolling terrain with highly irregular drainage and a thin soil cover with barren vegetation.

A section of the hills, the Carp Barrens, spread along both sides of Thomas Dolan Parkway, is characterized by the "most extensive, best-expressed complex of granite bedrock barrens", not only on the Carp Ridge, but also in southern Ontario east of the Thousand Islands – Frontenac Arch.

[1] The western side of the hills are an exposed fault, creating a ridge that provides good views of the surrounding rural countryside.

[1][9] Other vegetation found in the hills are orchids (including the regionally significant showy orchid (Galearis spectabilis), downy rattlesnake plantain, (Goodyera pubescens), checkered rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera tesselata), and spotted coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata), ricegrass (Oryzopsis racemosa), bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix), tick-trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.)

[1][7] Bird species include songbirds, waterfowl, and birds of prey, such as herons, red-tailed hawk, common nighthawk, chestnut-sided warbler, eastern whip-poor-will, field sparrow, golden-winged warbler, indigo bunting, northern shrike, pileated woodpecker, great horned owl, and eastern towhee.