Finger Lakes history · regional story
The volunteers behind a trail between two lakes
Rob’s Trail was a memorial as well as a connection between Hemlock and Canadice. The Nature Conservancy’s account puts volunteers at the center of its 2016 trail work.
The name on the trail belongs to Rob van der Stricht. The Nature Conservancy remembers its former board chair as a birder, canoeist and fisherman who was especially fond of Hemlock and Canadice. He died in 2006; the trails were dedicated to his memory. Rob’s Trail Preserve.
The Conservancy’s brochure gives the project another date: 2016. With volunteers’ help, it says, a trail was built that connected the two lakes. The same account links the work to a connecting parcel and to the protection effort involving Rochester, the state and the Conservancy in 2010. Rob’s Trail brochure: preserve history.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The Conservancy records both a memorial dedication and volunteer work connecting the lakes. Its brochure dates that construction work to 2016.
- What remains uncertain
- We have not inspected work logs or dedication records, so the people who built each section and the sequence of earlier trails remain open questions.
- What we are researching next
- Find dated trail plans, volunteer records and dedication material. This is a history account, not current hiking or access guidance.
Sources
- Rob’s Trail Preserve — The Nature Conservancy; undated; accessed October 22, 2026. Locator: Overview, Description: two paragraphs describing Rob van der Stricht, the two lakes and the memorial dedication.. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Rob’s Trail brochure: preserve history — The Nature Conservancy; undated; historical section records 2010 and 2016. Locator: PDF page 2 of 2, Preserve History panel and Rob van der Stricht memorial panel.. Accessed October 22, 2026.