Wander the West: A weekend of fossil and rock hunting - Wander the West

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:38 PM

I arranged a weekend to take Alex and his parental units on a weekend rock hunting trip in the Ochoco Mountains and John Day Fossil Beds area in Central Oregon.



My little science buddy Alex:


Painted Hills:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:39 PM

Painted Hills:


Painted Hills Visitors Center:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:40 PM

Hunting for rocks outside the park:


Rare sighting of a Painted Hills Purple-backed Jackalope:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:43 PM

Camping at the Ochoco Divide Campground. This is a nice campground on highway 26 at Ochoco Summit - about 10 or 15 miles west of Mitchel:


The main objective of the trip was to visit the Lucky Strike Thunderegg mine in the Ochoco mountains:


Ryan getting serious:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:44 PM

One of the mines owners:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:47 PM

The Lucky Strike HQ:


This is really a neat place to visit. The owner is a very nice older man (WW2 veteran!) and his wife. I want to say their names are Cop and Cindy if I remember correctly. These are some of the nicest thundereggs (and largest) you will find anywhere. You pay 1 dollar per pound on what you want to keep.

Cop cleaning our eggs:

Posted 29 June 2009 - 07:48 PM

The weigh in:




Overall a great weekender close to home. We are finally getting some nice weather up here so look out for more Oregon reports in the near future!

Posted 30 June 2009 - 02:29 PM

Posted 30 June 2009 - 06:36 PM

Posted 01 July 2009 - 03:34 AM