Our original plan was to drive directly from Missouri to Lordsburg, New Mexico. This was to take all of Monday and most of Tuesday. However, with our 1/2-day jump, we made it all the way to Deming, New Mexico by late Tuesday morning. As we neared town, we could see the Florida (pronounced flor-ee-da) and Little Florida Mountains looming on the horizon.

Since Lordsburg is only about an hour's drive from Deming, we decided to make full use of the "extra" afternoon by heading out to Rockhound State Park (RSP) to get a jump on collecting there. RSP is located at the foot of the Little Florida Mountains, about 20 minutes south of Deming.

My prep work told me that RSP is best known for its fantastic thundereggs, some with multicolored agate in addition to well-formed quartz crystals. Also scattered about the park are rocks and minerals of volcanic and hydrothermal origin; including quartz, chalcedony, agate, common opal and banded and brecciated rhyolite. The 1,100 acre park was established in 1966 as the first in the United States that allowed collecting of rocks and minerals for personal use.

Chrissy, Opal and I hit the dusty trail just after lunch.

Chrissy and Opal at Rockhound State Park

Opal with the Florida Mountains in the distance

Opal overlooking the campground and Deming to the North

Florida Mountains from Little Floridas

On this day and when we returned Friday of that week, we managed, with some effort, to recover some very nice thundereggs, agate, quartz and rhyolite.

Since returning home, I have cut a few cabs from the material collected at RSP. The following are a couple examples of the excellent lapidary material.