Diverse limb adaptations allow insects to navigate complex terrain while maintaining stability, enabling behaviors such as climbing waxy leaves, digging deep in soil, and skimming the surface of water. Tarsal structures (akin to ‘feet’) such as claws or setae (‘hairs’) allow insects to attach and adhere to uneven plant and water surfaces. Periodical cicadas (genus: Magicicada) emerge en masse, and as females lay eggs in trees, they show distinct preferences for small diameter branches or trunks. Often, these oviposition locations are at the ends of tree branches, where stability is key and wind could cause slippage. How cicadas navigate, grip, and support themselves on thin tree surfaces is largely unknown. Here, we investigated how M. septendecim and M. cassini (Brood IX) climb and interact with areas of low friction using PVC and plastic pipes as models for vertical perches. We recorded 701 trials of cicadas climbing on pipes of four diameters (5.0, 15.9, 21.6, 33.5 mm) using a synchronized camera array (Hero 4 Black, GoPro). The pipes were wrapped in green terrarium matting to provide a high-friction surface for climbing. A single gap in the matting (gaps ranged 6 to 36 mm) revealed the smooth pipe surface as a low-friction slip challenge, with gap size presented randomly. For the three largest diameter pipes, success rate of crossing decreased with increasing gap size, from 85.4% (6 mm) to 10.5% (30 mm); cicadas could not cross a gap of 36 mm. However, on the smallest diameter pipe, cicadas crossed every gap size, with an overall 100% success rate. To explore the kinematics of failure in more detail, we conducted additional trials using three synchronized high-speed Photron cameras recording at 2000 fps. Lastly, SEM images were used to compare male/female tarsal morphology. These data contribute to our understanding of how insects locate oviposition sites, maintain stability, and navigate tree branches during climbing.