Let 'er Buck!

This is Jon. I burned a day of vacation on Friday to head south to the Pendleton Roundup, probably one of the most historical and prestigious rodeos in the world. It was my first visit there and definitely won't be my last.

Pendleton is the final stop for every cowboy and cowgirl who is up here for the famed "Northwest Run" which is exactly how it's described, a bunch of rodeos in the Pacific Northwest over a two-month period.

Pendleton began in 1910 (Ellensburg started up in 1923) and there are some instances where it still feels like it's 1910. For one, it has a "Wild West Show" feel to it with old school competitions and a wide open, untamed feel to it. The arena is huge, bigger than E-burg's and E-burg has a huge arena. The inner arena is grass (they play football here) while the outer track is the more-familiar dirt, but the world famous grass infield is where most of the events take place due to its proximity to the roughstock and timed chutes.

I'm coming back next year with Britty. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the Roundup and already the final two days are sold out, but with my access as a "respected rodeo columnist" I'm sure we'll be fine.

Their slogan: Let 'er Buck!!!

This is a photo of the Pendleton Roundup marching band. Before the rodeo the band went around the track, stopping a few times in front of the stands to play some tunes. I've never seen that at a rodeo before. Really cool.

This is the grass infield from the vantage point of the roughstock chutes. The people sitting in the grass are cowboys, arena workers, first aid people and photographers. I was offered an arena pass, but didn't think I needed one for the stories I write on rodeo, however, had I known about the freedom in the arena, I would have been there in a second. In most arena's you're regulated to a certain corner, not in Pendleton. Because of that, you have to be quick on your feet when an animal gets loose or strays. We're talking bulls and broncs that are upwards of 1500 pounds. I should have known something was up when I had to show my medical insurance card just to get my press pass. Awesome. Hopefully the photographer who got trampled by a bull had it too. He got up from it so I don't feel bad when I say watching that was flippin' awesome.

This is a photo of bulldogging, a nickname for steer wrestling. You can see the steer exiting the chutes from the dirt into the grass. Timed event chutes are usually 10-15 feet deep, but at Pendleton, not only are they triple that, but have a downward slant off the track and land into the grass arena. So cool.

Here's the same timed event chutes from a different perspective.

Team ropers and bulldoggers warming up in the grass before their event.

The Indians have a prominent place at Pendleton. Plenty of rodeos honor Indians, but I haven't seen it as much as they did at Pendleton. Above is a snapshot of a race on bareback horses. Many tribes from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Canada competed through the day.