Peterson Ridge Rumble: Cedar's first trail race

The Peterson Ridge Rumble is a classic laid back community trail race that takes place in Sisters, Oregon. Almost every trail runner we know has run it at least once, most people at least few times. The trails are at a low enough elevation that snow normally isn't an issue and you get amazing views of the central Cascades. It's a race that people hangout for hours after they cross the finish line cheering people on and catching up with friends. It is a great way to kick of the season. 

start of the race

Susan and I have ran the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 mile race twice, but now that we a four legged trail runner as part of our pack we decided to include him. The 40 mile race does not allow dogs but the 20 mile does. I was so excited when I signed Cedar up for the race, I was equally as excited to run the shorter distance. 

At the start with Cedar, Ann, Susan, and Susan's son Leif

I had a work trip to San Francisco the week before the Rumble, but luckily there is a direct flight from SFO to Redmond/Bend. My husband and Cedar drove down in the van and picked me up; I'm not sure who was more excited to see me Cedar or John. We camped 3 miles down the road from the start of the race at Cold Springs Campground, which wasn't officially open for the season but it wasn't closed either. We were the only people at the campground, it was super nice. 

The 20 mile race didn't start until 9am, so we were able to take our time getting ready in the morning. We got to Sisters Middle School around 8 am and parked next to all the other Sprinter vans. There were so many dogs!!! I had read that ~100 dogs were registered for the race, which made me a little nervous. Cedar can be a shit sometimes around other dogs. 

I decided to walk around with Cedar before the race started so he could sniff butts, leave pmail and get acclimated to the other dogs. I decided that if he acted up too much he was going hiking with John, he was pretty excited but didn't act up at all. After all the sniffing was done we headed over to the start line where we finally met up with Susan. 


Lots of the dogs at the start line were barking and whimpering, they were all ready to get started. I imagine if was more acceptable all the runners would have been making similar noises. As with most trail races the start was very congested, it was funny to watch all the try and figure out how to weave through the crowd with their human attached to them, Cedar was no exception. 

Chip - nom nom nom

After a few miles the crowd started to thin out and we were able to run at a good pace and catch-up on the past week. When we rolled into the first aid station Cedar wasn't sure what to make of it. A table full of food, bowls full of water, people giving him dog treats, yes, please! I am sure every dog was in heaven. We normally have a hard time getting him to drink water on trail runs, but he drank a lot of water at each aid station. He was living the dream. 

Lap around the track to the finish

Cedar was amazing during the race and so were all the other dogs, they were all well behaved happy runners. We had a blast running with Cedar and wish more races were dog friendly. As much as we love the 40 mile distance, we decided that we were going to make the 20 mile race with Cedar an annual tradition. 

Ruffwear called Peterson Ridge Rumble "The dog friendliest trail race", they could not have been more correct. 

Cedar give Peterson Ridge Rumble 🐾🐾 (four paws). 

Post run - passed out in the van the whole way back to Portland