Peterson Ridge Trail starts from the nouveau cowboy tourist town of Sisters about 20 miles northwest of Bend. If you can overlook the ersatz western theme and the latte drinking cowboys, it has some nice geography for outdoor activities.
There are a couple of other trails in the Sisters area like the Green Ridge Trail, Suttle Lake Trail and the trails around Black Butte. The Forest Service is trying to promote some trails around Black Butte most of which are old logging roads except for the Metolious Windigo trail that makes up most of the eastern portion (It was an old logging road at one time in this area). Old logging roads in Oregon can quickly become single track due to encroaching vegetation if not maintained. This trail get used by horseback riders as well and can be rough as a result. The trail is not well marked at some critical junctions so bring this map or a Forest Service map and a GPS is recommended. There are some beautiful old growth forests around the base of the Butte that make the ride worth doing at least once.
The Peterson Ridge Trail starts off in a big old alluvial fan from the
runoff from the North Sister. Consequently there are quite a few round river
rocks in the trail for the first mile or so. After that, the trail gets very
smooth and is physically and technically very easy except for a short climb up
Peterson Ridge.
The ride starts out in rather uninspiring second growth
forest but once you get up to Peterson Ridge there are some great Cascade views
along the trial and a couple of five star rock out crop overlooks.
This is a good trail for dogs as there are not a lot of hikers and you are near good quality canal water on several occasions. One of the canals doesn't run late in the year so you may have to bring water for the dog in the fall. This would also be an easy shuttle to do for kids starting from the trail intersection of the trail and Three Creeks Road at the top of Peterson Ridge. (Not particularly well marked) Although no self respecting adult mountain biker should mention they did this easy ride as a shuttle, it would be a good idea to have an adult along with kids because it would be easy to take a wrong turn and get lost. It is well signed but unless you are paying close attention it would be easy to miss some of the trials especially if you are on one of the many short segments of old logging roads.
Trail Fee: Although this trail head is in the National Forest you do not need a forest pass and there is no fee.
Getting to the Trailhead: From Google Maps copy and paste "Three Creeks Lake Rd @44.284145, -121.549910" as a destination. The Peterson Ridge trials are most easily accessed just south of Sisters at the intersection of Three Creeks Road and East Tyee Dr. The trial head is well signed with new trail additions posted. Three Creeks Road which starts out as Elm Street in Sisters heads south right in the middle of downtown.
Peterson Ridge 8.5 x 11 Pocket Map