The barking of many excited dogs filled the air at Wanoga Sno-Park west of Bend on Saturday following a day of mushing at the Bachelor Butte Dog Derby.

The dog derby is a trophy dog sled race held on the first weekend of March, and people came from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond to compete and just have a good time with their friends, families, and of course their dogs.

One of the event’s organizers, Cyndi Smidt, said the last race was in 2020, and this year people from Washington, California, Idaho and Oregon came out to participate in the derby, which ran from Friday to Sunday.

The event consists of 25 miles per day with between seven and 13 dogs, and some of the more seasoned mushers take the sport pretty seriously. But most people came out to have a good time with their dogs. There are also opportunities for a younger mushers to get some experience.

Fae Clawson, 7, said her favorite thing about dog sled racing is going fast. She also said she started mushing when she was two or three.

On Saturday she mushed two of her dogs, Mayhew — who was named after Peter Mayhew, the British American actor best known for his role as Chewbacca in the “Star Wars” films — and Houndy. Fae did a great job feeding and taking care of her dogs following the race, something her mother Charlotte Clawson said she is very proud of.

“I’m very proud of this,” Charlotte Clawson, Fae’s mother, said, gesturing toward her daughter as she fed, watered, and unharnessed the dogs. “This is cool. … I’m very proud of Fae.”

Fae said she loves that her dogs are loyal.

“They are good friends. They can be your friends for life,” she said.

Charlotte Clawson said she raced five dogs for about 5 miles Saturday.

“What’s more important than going fast is making sure everyone is having fun on the team. If you are running at your fastest dog’s speed you are dragging some dogs and they’re not having a good time, so there’s a saying, ‘You are only as fast as your slowest dog,’” Clawson said. “The goal is to make sure your fastest dog and your slowest dog are closer together so that everyone is having a good time.”

Just a few feet away, Geneva Lyon and her daughter Shade were getting their dogs ready for the trip back home to Brightwood near Mt. Hood.

Shade is 6½ and said she raced her two dogs, Leaf and Jasmine.

“She’s been doing this since she was in my tummy,” Geneva Lyon said. She added that Shade got her first sled at 16 months.

Liz Nevills, from Middleton, Idaho, stood in front of her rig surrounded by several dogs, some resting, some eating, and many barking their heads off after a long day of racing in the snow.

Nevills said she raced seven dogs for 15 miles and isn’t quite sure what place she was in, but at least she and the dogs had a good time.

“It is my favorite race,” she said of the dog derby. “This is the first one I ever ran five years ago, and I’ve been to it every time they’ve had it.”

“I had fun,” she said, laughing.

Steve Madson, from Cougar, Washington, has 14 dogs and has been mushing for 30 years and racing for 25. On Saturday, he raced seven of his dogs, mostly so he could show them a good time mushing.

“A lot of my dogs are retiring now,” Madson said. “This is kind of our last season.”

Madson said he first got introduced to the sport after he bought a dog from a man who was into dog mushing. Then his wife bought him an old dog sled thinking it would just adorn the front yard, but he decided to buy more dogs and eventually start mushing and competing.

Madson’s first race of the season was in January in Joseph, he said.