Paula digging Thunder Eggs at the Richardson Ranch
On Friday of the Crater Lake trip, we drove out into the desert outside of Madras to visit the famous Richardson’s Recreation Ranch, which is a worldwide destination for rockhounding. While we’re not hard-core rockhounds or anything, we have been known to pick up the occasional cool rocks when we find them. On this day, however, our quarry were Thundereggs!
Mesa out at Richardson's on way down to Blue Pit
As you can see from the first picture, Paula wasted no time gawking at the distant hills, and dove right in to the Blue Pit and started digging up strangely-shaped rocks. The Thundereggs from the Blue Pit generally produce blue patterns. I noticed the flat mesa on the other side of the valley, which reminded me of John Wayne movies where the covered wagons went down through the pass, and the camera pans up to the top of the mesa, where there is an entire hostile Indian war party!
View of Jefferson and Desert from Pony Butte Pit
Next, we drove a mile or two out to the Pony Butte Thunderegg Pit. Paula began scouring the pit with the same intensity as before, while I climbed to the top of the Pony Butte Pit for some more pictures. That is Mt. Jefferson off in the distance (see the snow cap), and another butte to the right-center. The mound I am standing on has been excavated from the Pony Butte Pit.
View of High Desert Forest from Pony Butte Pit
Still on top of the Pony Butte Pit, I panned the camera over to point Southeast across the high desert forest. There are lots of Ponderosa pines out there, and it is extremely quiet! It was also really hot on this last day of our trip!
Paula in the Pony Butte Pit
Here is Paula digging up a Pony Butte Thunderegg. The Pony Butte Thundereggs are small and have red crystals inside. Thundereggs are the state rock of Oregon, and the Richardson Rock Ranch is one of the premiere spots in the world to dig them.
Stratus Hiding at the Moss Pit
The Richardson’s Recreation Ranch roads rattled and shook the Green Hornet to the point where it hid among the hills when we got to the Moss Pit. The Thundereggs pulled from the Moss Pit had very strange moss-like tendrils in the crystal. It was both pretty and strange at the same time.
Paula returning with Treasures from the Red Pit
By the time we made it to the Red Pit, we were being picky about which rocks we took. Rather than carry the full bucket, Paula carried her latest treasures back in her handkerchief. The Red Pit Thundereggs are brownish red.
Paula's Cut Thundereggs from Richardson's
We picked up a ton of Thundereggs and had a lot of them cut. However, we picked the best of the bunch to post online. Here are Paula’s Thundereggs. The ones with the blue are from the Blue Pit. The one on the very top, I believe is a Moss Pit, and the two whitish ones are from the Pony Butte.
Jeff's cut thundereggs from Richardson's
My Thundereggs are in this picture. The lowest one is a Red Pit. The yellowish one is a Pony Butte. The top one is a Moss Pit. The bottom right two are also Moss Pit. The remaining three blue ones with holes in the middle and top left are blue pit. These two cut Thunderegg pictures are also at a higher resolution, if you wanted to click in and look more closely at them. My favorite is the one on the top. (You’ll also notice the Patio in the background).
After the Thunderegg Ranch, we headed over to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to stay at the Kahneeta Resort for the final night of the Crater Lake adventure. Up at Kahneeta, we got to eat Indian traditional food like Fry Bread with Huckleberry jam, and participate in traditional recreation activities like miniature golf and big badass water slides!
Nice thundereggs!