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    Hello! Welcome to another page of my Corner.

    Thunder Egg Hunt Deming, NM

    Prospector's
    Corner
    Pages

    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |

    Kids Corner:
    1 | 2

    Ron, your friendly Prospector

    "If you've ever washed rocks in your kitchen sink.....you might be a rockhound".

    Check out our
    Rockhound Store
     


     
    Equipment, Supplies
    And Information for the
    Amateur, Novice and Expert.
    The Deming Rockhound Roundup was the start of this trip. This is the annual show put on by the Gem and Mineral Club of Deming, New Mexico. It was held at the County Fairgrounds in March, 2004. We arrived there late on Friday, about an hour before they were to shut down for the day. This didn't give us much time to look around and also accomplish our search for the items we had come for but we were successful, anyway. From what we could see there was a good showing of both vendors and visitors.

    The following day we had reserved for a planned field trip. The area around Deming offers many rockhounding sites to visit and dig for just about any little bauble your heart has a yearning for. It is also home of the famous Rockhound State Park, located a few miles south of town. Rockhound State Park has it's own RV park and many collecting sites within the park as well as close by.

    As I reflect back on our original plans to go rockhounding on Saturday, I can't remember where we were planning to go. This is because we ran into fellow rockhounds from our own club at the show. One of them was Phil Weber who was carrying a big rock with a hole in one end. The rock was oval in shape and about 10 to 12 inches long and approximately 6 inches in diameter. Phil's eyes were gleaming and his face was beaming when he said," look at this puppy". We peered into the opening and discovered that what Phil had was a hollow Geode or volcanic nodule (sometimes called a ThunderEgg) with beautiful terminated crystals covering the inside walls. It was truly a great find.

    Bill Jaeger, our club president, was standing there with Phil and Keith (another club member). They were discussing plans for that evening including a scouting trip to a site south of town that has geodes with various colored agate in them. The location is called, South Canyon and we were also very interested in learning about it. They invited us to join them for dinner at a local steakhouse and see what developed. As it turns out, they were going out after dinner to find this site. Bear in mind that by this time it was about 6:30pm and already getting dark.

    We had an excellent dinner at the Rancher's Grill Steakhouse where we swapped tall tales about rockhounding adventures and enjoyed some great conversation. Then we all struck out for the hills south of town, accompanied by our respective spouses. There we were, following our friends' taillights down several miles of dirt roads, over hills, through mud-filled washes, in the dark, noting the mileage at each turn. Finally our leader stopped! Leaving his headlights shining on the hillside, Bill gathered us together to explain exactly where we should look and dig the following morning.

    Rockhound Recon.

    The photo above shows that true rockhounds will go to great lengths in the pursuit of their quest for the most perfect specimens. If it's 9 o'clock at night and you are in a caravan looking for a dig site, "You might be a Rockhound."

    We were to meet Phil, Mary, Keith and Mari the next morning at Rockhound State Park where they were camped in their RV's. We, on the other hand, had stayed at The Grand - a very comfortable motel back in town.

    In A Fog
    Planning the day's trip.
    Even the dog goes
    Follow the leader.
    This trip was going to prove very interesting. It was a morning with heavy low lying fog and we couldn't see much better than we did on the scouting trip the night before. Again, the pictures tell the story. We did find the site and did some digging, loaded up some nodules and headed for another site. I want to mention that the digging was difficult and yielded some results but we have not cut one of these specimens open yet.

    Digging for treasure
    That could be a Geode.
    It was during this hard digging that Phil mentioned going to another site. He had told us the night before that was where his crystal geode came from and the digging was much easier. We couldn't wait to get to this new site and find our own! We drove south about 20 to 25 miles, almost to the Mexico border and arrived at the location.

    There were already some other vehicles there and some heavy equipment, (the digging kind). It turns out that this is a mining claim run by a person known as the "Geode Kid". He also runs a museum and rock shop near Rockhound State Park. He opens his claim up to the public once a year during the Deming show. He does however ask that everyone stay away from the area that the equipment is working including the actual pit.

    Second digging site.

    We all found a spot and began to dig. It certainly was easier than South Canyon as we were digging in the mine tailings and dumps. By this time it is getting late in the day and a storm system was moving in from the south. We had found a few good looking propects but nothing like the specimen we had seen cradled in Phil's arm the night before. Just prior to leaving I came across one that had the end knocked off. "EUREKA", it was hollow and filled with beautiful Crystals.

    Finally, we felt a sense of fulfillment and gathered up our bucket of geodes and headed for the truck. We felt it had been a great day. Great company and friends to rockhound with and once again being outside in the beautiful Southwest Desert. But now we were anxious to get home and see what else we might have in our bucket.

    The next day, Sunday, I couldn't wait to fire up our diamond saw and cut into one of these rocks. It was a tough choice to figure out which one would be first and which way to cut it. Those of you who have done this know exactly what I'm talking about. The results of my selection are pictured in this story and more pictures in our Mineral Collection Page

    The outside of our prized geode.
    Wow.........what a find!

    Half of the geode was hollow with pristine terminated crystals and the other half was Blue Opal. We had been told that Blue Opal was not found in that area, but as the pictures above show, we had made a spectacular find. This makes this piece very rare and we can't wait to get into the rest of what we gathered. Of course as you all know...... sometimes a Diamond, sometimes a stone! It's always a surprise, just some are more exciting than others.
    All of our Thundereggs and Geodes come from the same mine where Becky Worley of "Cash and Treasures" on the Travel Channel found hers.

    We do plan a return trip back to New Mexico in the near future and hope to have continued good luck. I also want to wish you all the best in your rockhounding endeavors and remember......

    Be Safe, Fill your holes, Close all gates behind you, and respect the property of others. This will help protect the open access we have come to enjoy in the Great Southwest.


    I update frequently with new articles. Information contained in these is from reliable sources and personal experiences with a little humor thrown into the mix from time to time. So come back and visit often!

    NEW Rockhounds Store
    Equipment, Supplies And Information for the Amateur, Novice and Expert.

    RockRoost Rockhounding Trips:
    . Agate 2006
    Baker Lode Mine, New Mexico
    Deming, New Mexico
    Oregon Sunstones
    The Big Luna
    Total Wreck Mine
    Virgin Valley, NV Opals
    Washington Camp

    Kids Corner:
    Kids Day at Rockroost Page 1
    Kids Day at Rockroost Page 2

    Prospector Ron's Articles:
    What Breed of Dog is a Rockhound


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