Hemlock-Canadice State Forest is located 20 miles east of Geneseo, between the hamlets of Hemlock and Springwater. It covers approximately 6,684 acres in the towns of Livonia, Conesus and Springwater in Livingston County and the towns of Richmond and Canadice in Ontario County.

Hemlock and Canadice Lakes have provided drinking water for the City of Rochester and adjacent communities for more than 100 years. In order to protect water quality, the City acquired much of the watershed property around the lakes. Over the decades, the land was planted and/or naturally reverted to forest, with few remaining traces of its former uses except for stone walls. Today, Hemlock and Canadice Lakes, with their steep forested shorelines guarding the deep clear water, show visitors a glimpse of the past when all the Finger Lakes were wild lakes.