Lucifers Crossing 2026 | Pre-Race

Timeline

Friday, May 29

14:00 - 19:00: Optional Check-In @ Y Camp Staging

Sunday, May 31

07:00 - 07:45: Half Marathon Check-In at Y Camp Staging

08:00 - Half Marathon Start

07:45 - 08:15: 10K Check-In at Y Camp Staging

08:30 - 10k Start

08:15 - 08:45: 5K Check-In at Y Camp Staging

09:00 - 5k Start

10:10 - Halfway Point Hard Cut Off Half Marathon

12:30 - Course Cut-Off

Staging Area & Parking

Robert H Treman - Old Y Camp

Parking on the Park Access Road to Y Camp staging. It is on Rt 13 South about 3/4 mile south of the Rt. 13/34 split headed uphill on the right. Approximate Google Maps coordinates are: 42.394327, -76.552753. We'll have a traffic cone and sign on the right shoulder. You'll proceed through an open gate, staying left and pulling all the way up to a point where the porta johns are viewable on the left. Please pull as far into the right shoulder / brush as you feel comfortable so that emergency vehicles can pass in/out if needed. The staging area is near the end of that access road. Please leave enough time for roughly 1/2 mile walk to get to staging area.

There is NO Drop-Off Parking Sunday morning via the Y Camp Road OR turning around and exiting before 08:45 Race Morning. All cars headed in between 7:00 and 8:45 race morning must park in line as they come otherwise bottlenecks get created. Anyone getting dropped off must do so via the Lower Park parking area below.

Lower Park (drop off or overflow)

If you're arriving Sunday morning and looking to get dropped off, you’ll need to do so via the Lower Park entrance. The first thing to to know and be prepared for, especially crew members who aren’t as fit as you, know it’s a climb and adventure to reach the staging from parking. Consider it a bonus ultra for crew members and an exercise in the state of your quads post-race.

Your address will be 105 Enfield Falls Road which is the Lower Treman entry gate. Please proceed approximately 1/2 mile and park in the Lower Park’s main lot just past the Park Office to the right. Exit the lot to walk a bit further on park road, crossing the wooden bridge. Just after the big wooden bridge of the creek you'll take a right into a smaller parking area and follow blue flags through the cabin area and up the trail, through the woods to get to the staging area.

Also, feel free to use the park bathrooms next to the Park Office...they're better than the portajohns at staging.

Course Format

The Half Marathon course (2 loops of the 10k) is here. The single circuit 10k is here. The 5k, which clips off the Treman Gorge Trail and Red Pine circuit is here.

Each distance starts with a roughly 1.5 - 2 mile rolling ascent of the wooded Rim Trail. At the top of a historic and steep stone staircase 5k runners will take a left to return on the singletrack Finger Lakes Trail. 10k and Half Marathon Runners will drop down through the Lucifer Falls gorge, a majestic amphitheater. A left will take you up a steep ascent of the Red Pine Trail, looping back around for a passing of the historic Old Mill, and leaving you with a couple mile mostly descent along the flowing and fast Finger Lakes Trail Singletrack. Half Marathoner’s will do two loops of the 10k course.

If carrying your phone you can download the Avenza App, purchase the Robert H. Treman as well as the Finger Lakes Trails M17 Map which covers Buttermilk Falls State Park, and upload the GPX / KML Track File of the course as a layer in each. If needed you can then open the appropriate course area map on your phone and see where your GPS location pin is on the map and as it relates to the course being overlayed / shown on the map. (sorry, that's a bit of a process) Those files can be found on the event website or via the plotaroute pages linked above.

Course Markings

The course will be marked using pink surveyor's flags. We will try to have enough out there where you can see the next one ahead at any given time. It's possible, that if there's really seemingly no place else to go, there will be a short gap in flagging. We'll use several on turns as well as straight ahead to cross an intersection.

Note that there is some pink flagging tied around trees in Upper Treman, about halfway through the course. That’s for forestry purposes. You’ll only be following pink ground-based surveyor’s flags.

With all that as a plan, it's still possible that we'll miss something, that some somewhere will get vandalized that we can't catch in time, or you'll just not be paying attention and over-run a turn's flagging. We'll get there as quickly as we can on our end if needed, and we ask you to be both calm and understanding out there if you find yourself off and needing to backtrack. Please also look out for one another. If you see someone miss a turn, get their attention.

If something arises on injury, let another runner around you know to get word ahead. If you can make it to the upper park and Old Mill, or back down to Y Camp on your own that would be preferred, and we can try to assist you from there.

Fuel

There will be a water stop mid-loop in Upper Treman and a fuller aid station for half marathon runners at Y Camp between loops. We’ll again have Fittnell BBQ post-race.

Cut-Off Times

All racers need to be finished by 12:30. There will be one mid-race cut-off time for Half Marathon which is 10:10 at Y Camp / Halfway, that’s used to be sure you’re moving through at a pace that’s quick enough to finish by 12:30.

Timing & Photography

Timing will be headed up by regional RD andfellow trail runner Vinny Cappadora. Timing questions including post-race discrepancies can be directed to him, and please check out the great events that he and his wife Nichole put on through their entity Happily Running. Please note that unofficial times will be posted to Athlinks by Monday, feedback taken for potential misses during the week, and posted to UltraSignUp towards the end of the week or the following weekend. I realize we’re all in an immediate gratification world but please be patient and try not to email in the days after the race asking when they’ll be posted to UltraSignUp. We’ll get there!

Photography will be provided by Ron Heerkens, Jr. of Goat Factory Media. We can't guarantee all runners will show up in a photo. But, if you do, chances are it'll be beautiful. Ron Will no doubt be processing thousands of photos, and this isn’t McDonalds, so PLEASE be patient and give them a week or so to get us a link to the set. When they are available I’ll post a link to our webpage, and they'll be at his site, Goat Factory Media 

Portajohns?

We'll have 10'ish portajohns near the start and 2 at the Y Camp aid station transition. They will have been used the day prior by Cayuga Trails so unfortunately I can’t guarantee they’ll be pristine for you. There are also bathroom in the Old Mill building in Upper Treman whicih you’ll pass by mid-loop. If you need to use nature's facilities outside of those when she calls please be respectful and move sufficiently off trail and either bury or pack out your doody pile and/or wipes.

Thank You!!!

A huge thank you to the New York State Parks and Town of Ithaca for again welcoming us back. The local residents who put up with us for a day in parking and on trails. To the Parks, Finger Lakes Trail Conference for so much work in providing us trails to run.

Ithaca Festival

For those in town early, or in case you wanna try to catch it post race on Sunday, check out the annual Ithaca Festival. It kicks off Thursday evening with the ridiculous Ithaca Festival Parade including the likes of shuffling Volvo cars and the chainsaw ballet. There’s vendors on Friday through Sunday afternoon. Go get your Ithaca on.

Whiteface Mountain Races

Like doing hard things? Mountains, red-line ascending, quad jelly’fying descents, an event with more vertical gain and loss per mile than virtually anything else in North America and a prior US Mtn Running Championships?

Join us for the Whiteface Mountain Races on Saturday, July 4th.

Ian