aircruiser

This happened last weekend and it was my first time ever going. if you dont know what it is, crawl 4 the cure is an annual event where each participant has to raise atleast $200 in pledge money to participate. all proceeds go to the MS society to find a cure for this horrible disease. this year we raised just under $40,000 with all pledges and the money for the raffle jeep! thats $209,000 in the past 6 years making this event the largest donater for the MS society!!

88 rigs participate with over 220 people..there was free food every night along with trail rides and even a night ride. this run was my first run of 2010 testing out my new IRO long arms, IRO OTK, new front bumper, new tire carrier, new 35" KM2s and a bunch of other new parts along with armor so i finally could rock crawl without worrying about tearing up the underside. for the ride down, i got some free 31s..yeah..bad idea. they didnt blow out or anything but the vibed like hell even balanced out, and made the jeep a pain to drive.

heres how it started, stuck in traffic. we stayed in my gf's friend's cabin. her dad has a cabin just outside of town.



almost there, 5 hours later haha



rest stop





finally got to the cabin, threw on the 35s at midnight just before a quick fire before bed



the next morning, we woke up, grilled some bacon and eggs and went to the campground to get the jeep registered and tech inspected



we got done with that and had time to spare before we had to leave for duluth to go see an airshow with my gf's dad. we just did some mild trails. everyone was on channel 4 on the cb so even if i did get stuck, i could call someone to pull me out





good ol iron ore mud



had to test out the flex on the infamous rock we flex on every trip



then played a little haha this puddle got deeper than last year, was going through then suddenly the drivers side dipped down and the mud was up to the fender. i had an oh **** moment put made it through. notice the mud pouring out of the gas tank skid hhahaha



oh god yeah



then we found an overlook..just had to do a little black diamond trail to get to it.



then we went back to the campground, got the blazer and headed down to the airshow. was an awesome time! got back around 7 and went to the tent to eat..mmmm

aircruiser

then right when we got done eating, we went to register for the trail run the next day. we asked when the night run was and the guy was like they are lining up right now. so we got in the jeep and headed out. got to the trails just in time



from what they said, it was going to be easy black diamonds. well, it had rained the night before so everything was loose and being open/open, hill climbs werent friendly. on the 10th out 14 trails, i was doing a steep climb and slipping and the jeep pegged 240, so i pussed out after that.

heres some pics from that



ted's revenge, one of my favorite runs











we went back to the cabin after airing up and hit the hay early..trail rides started at 9 the next morning and it was a 20 minute drive from the cabin and we were meeting my gf's dad who drove 2 hours just to ride with us. here we are on the first trail.



gumbys rocks..i didnt do this one since my drivers u-joint was popping and i wanted to save the jeep





rocks crawl, another favorite trail of mine







and heres where things got hairy..the leader decided to bring us the back way through split personality which is one of the hardest trails in the park. same trail this happened last year:



well, this year it was a TJ's D30 shaft..exploded the front end.



ended up having to winch it uphill, then winch it back down through the bypass and up and out. took about an hour.

right after that, we all headed out for lunch





then the ladies trail run started so me and another cherokee went to explore the park. we did some very mild stuff. found another fun trail called pucker point. if you have ever run it, youll know why haha

aircruiser

he almost made it



then played around some more..he did this in the gorge



then my exhaust got caught on a good size rock, banged up the brand new muffler and ripped off the hanger..now its stupidly loud



we wheeled for a good 10 hours that day and burned a whole tank of gas. didnt get the best pics cause we were having to much fun and the gf's dad wasnt a huge fan of taking pics haha..no real damage just cosmetics. bent the cb bracket, bent up pass side CA bracket, nice gouges in the skids, more rain gutter damage and bent fenders.





and heres the home away from home





sunday was our last day..most people had left and all that was left was a few guys from burnsville offroad. basically did what we did the first day, just explored the park, made sure we covered the entire park and didnt leave any trail un-run.

but first off, i decided the to surprise the gf and let her drive the jeep. this is a rare honor because she is the only other person besides my best friend who drove it from my house to his when it was stock to drive my jeep. i put it in 4lo and let her bomb around for a little bit. she loved it! she now wants to get a cherokee of her own!







heres a quick over view of the little playground area



the jeep's hood is open because ive got to work on a little overheating issue. the temp likes to climb to around 215 on trails.

heres an overlook of the map for the park. the bottom right area was the only place we had yet to go. horseshoe loop and leaf lake loop were the last to runs we did. going alone, i didnt know all of what to expect so i made sure that i could reach the park patrol on my cb and we headed out.





but first we decided to do one last climb and hit ely overlook. just love the overlooks. ironically, the family and i are taking a 2 week long camping trip coming up and we are staying in ely for 4 days. just found it funny i take my jeep that has over 1/4 of a million miles up here and back with no worries.





this rig never ceases to amaze me



headed over to the loops



didnt get any pics during the loop..both loops are switch backs. horseshoe was a good 3-4 miles or so..we thought that was long HAHA leaf lake was almost 10 i think. lots of iffy spots with deep mud and some rock climbs but never the less, the jeep did em with ease!

aircruiser

here we are in the middle of leaf lake loop in one of the many mud puddles





and at the end





met this guy up on the way to ely overlook which is id say a good 20 miles from the front. snapped a D35 shaft..made it all the way back





then on the way back home, got caught up in traffic for a big accident. please to anybody towing, get some proper towing equipment! sway control, equalizer hitches and proper chains go a long way so this doesnt happen to you!





luckily, all 4 survived with no serious injuries! but also found out 2 hours after i got home, a drunk driver who was also high hit a yukon head on after flying across the median and killed an 11 year old boy and the dad is in serious condition. they were on the way back from the boys baseball tournament. the family was a friend of mine's who was in afghanistan but is home now for this tragedy . please everyone, drive safely and responsibly. his mom is a wreck right now and he is taking it hard. its a very sad situation.

all that aside however, we will be doing this event again for sure next year. gilbert is an awesome OHV park. i will be back up in september for IRO's customer appreciation event and may be doing appleton in august.

hope you enjoyed the pictures!

91Laredo

Great pics bro, I think you have one of the top 5 jeeps on this forum. If I had an unlimited budget, I would build one like yours (I've got a soft spot for 97+ 2-doors lol.) Anyways, glad to hear you weren't injured; and best of luck to that family.

aircruiser

thanks man! far from an unlimited budget haha if it were unlimited, id have the IRO, 8.5" kit, 38s, one tons and a V8 swap in it hahahaha. but as we all know, $$$. it was alot of fun and i encourage anyone near MN to participate in this event if they get the chance!

xjrev10

ely overlook is 20 miles from the parking lot? the park is only 1400 acres or something like that. 2 miles maybe

aircruiser

haha im pretty bad at judging distances...especially when we basically went through the whole park in 4lo doing maybe 3mph hahahaha.

but it was really cool saw lots of wildlife! 3 different occasions had a deer jump out in front of us and saw many other animals. normally when we make our trips up to gilbert, we just hit trails all day and then go back to camp and dont do any exploring.

oh, and if im ever up when you guys are doing trail maintenance, let me know and i can lend a helping hand.

jeepn_83

ok so where is this park. i'm from greenbay and thinking once i take some vacation time i might just drive out there. i have a 3" lift and 235s are there some trails that i can hit up there. since mcaslin mountian got closed here.

aircruiser

this is in gilbert, mn, about an hour north of duluth by virginia. its a drive but well worth it and yes definitly we wheeled with a stocker last year on no lift. he did some of the hard trails. on the black diamonds he took all the by passes and we basically left the towstrap hooked up to his jeep hahhaha but definitly a great time.

Divinusx

Wow man Nice Pics Looks AMAZING! Im gonna look into it if they do it next year Sorry To hear about the lost.. Best Wishes and Hopes for the Family.

aircruiser

will be here next year! its happened the last 6 years in a row, ill be doing it from now on for sure as long as i dont roll my jeep haha