[pics & vid] 4-Wheeling in Disney(land)…Oklahoma!

Part of this year’s goal of the #CTITour2019 was to attend events that we hadn’t been to before…and to maybe even get in a little wheeling! The folks that put on the Crawl-4-Christ event in Disney, Oklahoma provide both of those requirements! And with the 4th of July weekend approaching and event season in full swing, this was just the event we were looking for!

With the weather at extremes all year long, we were excited to head out to the Sooner State with our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t be caught in any major storms.

But those hopes didn’t last very long. We barely got through Colorado when the skies began to change.

After a thorough drenching (and cleaning) of the truck, trailer and Jeep provided by the rain, we continued through New Mexico and into Texas where the temps began to warm up…a lot!

And no I didn’t spill Gatorade on myself…thats just some heat and humidity coming through my shirt after unloading the Jeep!

Beautiful skies and wonderful sights were the order of the day as we made our way to Disney!

For the Dam aficionados out there, crossing over the Pensacola Dam, also known as the Grand River Dam, is amazing. I pulled some information from Wikipedia. The Pensacola Dam is a multiple-arch buttress type consisting of 51 arches and one main spillway, two auxiliary. It has a maximum height of 150 ft above the river bed. The total length of the dam and its sections is 6,565 ft while the multiple-arch section is 4,284 ft long and its combination with the spillway sections measure 5,145 ft. Each arch in the dam has a clear span of 60 ft and each buttress is 24 ft wide. Inside of each buttress are 18 in thick transverse walls that act as “stiffeners”.

The main spillway, part of the eastern end of the dam, is a 861 ft long Ogee-type and utilizes twenty-one 25 ft tall and 36 ft wide tainter gates that are operated by two 60-ton hoists. The auxiliary spillways are located about 1 mi northeast of the dam and are controlled by another twenty-one 37 ft wide and 15 ft high tainter gates stretched over their combined 860 ft length. The lip of the spillways lie at an elevation of 730 ft above sea level while the tops of the gates are 755 ft. All three spillways have a combined maximum discharge of 525,000 cu ft/s.^[11] The two-lane State Highway 28 crosses over the top of the dam and a bridge that stretches over the main spillway.

The dam’s reservoir, Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees (Grand Lake over the Cherokees), has a storage capacity of 1,672,000 acre⋅ft of which 540,000 acre⋅ft is flood storage. The reservoir’s surface area is 46,500 acres and it extends 66 mi upstream, creating 1,300 mi of shoreline.

Disney is located in the far Northeastern corner of Oklahoma and lies on the magnificent Grand Lake.

Hosted by the United Christian Off-Road Alliance (UCORA), this annual event is open to everyone. Through open fundraising and in-kind donations, UCORA has been able to average over $10,000 in ministry cash donations sent out annually and also had a large impact on local efforts, such as donating over 200 sleeping bags to the homeless in 2018!

A little history of the organization, in 2007, UCORA began online discussions for a national gathering of off-roaders who wanted a more family centered event.  They wanted to have a place where families could enjoy time with others while rock crawling. The new group decided on an event for the following summer. In 2008, UCORA hosted the first ever Crawl 4 Christ at Superlift ORV Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  The event has grown annually, occurring in multiple locations around the United States.  Some of the more noteworthy locations are Seymour, MO; Harlan, KY; Moab, UT; and Disney, OK.  In the last few years, they have established a great relationship with Green Country Camp in Disney, Oklahoma, which has become a regular home for the event.  Having recently celebrated their 10th Annual Crawl 4 Christ in 2017, they look forward to many more!

The location of the event is essentially on an island. The majority of the trails are below the very large spillway that holds back the Grand Lake. Due to the rain and flooding in the midwest, many of the area trails that are typically open for jeeping were under water…except for a few well known trails that I was excited to see in person. With names like “The Waterfall”, “Little Blue” and “Viagra” and I knew we were in for a special place!

With temperatures in the 90’s and the humidity about the same, the water was where everyone wanted to be…and needed to be!

The spillway and surrounding areas are all managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Coming here from the west, I was still in awe that folks are allowed to drive in these waters and along these spillways. But safety is a priority and on numerous occasions we saw and talked with the rangers that patrol the area.

So after a day of wheeling in the water, we endured the heat that everyone was avoiding and managed to open up the MetalCloak CTI Trailer to the participants of the event. Thanks to everyone for making sure I stayed cool (wrapping cold towels around my head and neck for a number of hours)!

This was one of the events that we will definitely enjoy returning too. It was very well run, had activities for everyone and should be on every Modern Jeeper’s bucket list!

For more information about this amazing event please check out http://crawl4christ.org