A Look at Earth's Geology and Geography With Kyle - Page 3
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Our next stop was at the High Desert Museum near Bend, Oregon. This unique and nationally recognized museum has a wide variety of exhibits dedicated to the history, culture, and nature of the high desert (as this region is known), and is a wonderful place to learn about this part of the country. It is a large facility that attracts more than 100,000 people a year, with a large modern exhibit building, and also many outdoor exhibits. It was founded in 1974 as a museum that would show the close connections between people and their environment. In it's stated mission, "through exhibits, wildlife, and living history, the High Desert Museum creates learning experiences to help audiences discover their connection to the past, their role in the present, and their responsibility to the future". In our self guided tour, we paid particular attention to the animals that were here including, squirrels, bobcats, owls, eagles, snakes, bats, and others. This was a very interesting place and we could have spent much more time here learning about how we are connected to nature.
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We then made an excursion to Mount Bachelor and our goal was to reach the top. However, we took the easy way and went by chairlift. This was another new experience for Kyle as he sat in a chair 50 feet above the ground being whisked to the top at over 9,000 feet. After reaching the top, we had a wonderful view that stretched for miles, although we could have seen much further if it wasn't for the haze caused by forest fires that were many miles away from this place. But, we could see distant lakes, other mountain peaks (including the Three Sisters), cinder cones, and the town of Bend many miles below. Also, at the top of this mountain, it was interesting to see the 40 foot deep creator near where we got off the chairlift.
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Our next campground was at Richardson's Ranch, which is a few miles north of Madras, Oregon. This place is famous worldwide (in the rock hound community) for the "Thunder Eggs" (the state rock of Oregon) that are found here, and we wanted to find some of those eggs. After setting up camp (free camping on their property), we checked in at the Richardson's rock shop and were given specific directions, a map, and told exactly where to go to find the eggs. Soon we were in the jeep winding up into the hills and then found the location where we were told to go (about 7 miles away). It was not long before Kyle had many pounds of thunder eggs in his bucket, and he struggled to carry them to the jeep. It turned out that it was not difficult to figure out where to dig, and once you found the right spot, the eggs were plentiful. Dave discovered that the best place to dig was lower in the rock formation where the larger rocks could be found. Actually, the eggs were encased in a hard packed soil like material where they could easily be dislodged with a rock pick. The eggs are rock hard compared to the material around them, and the thing that is unique about them is that they have an agate interior that shows beautiful colors (when the egg is cut in half with a rock saw).
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There are several locations on the Richardson's Ranch where you can dig for various rocks and minerals, and the Richardson's provide all the information and tools you need to find what you are looking for. After finding all the thunder eggs we wanted, we decided to try and find some Opal, and this required a steep climb (with the jeep) up a winding dirt road to the top of a ridge where there was an outcrop that was obviously the place to dig. There were shards of material all over the ground nearby with nodules in the rock showing a deep blue color. This was the Opal that we had come looking for. Dave was able to pry out a few chunks of rock from the outcrop that showed inclusions of opal, but we had equal success in just looking around the surface of the ground surrounding the area and picking up pieces showing the beautiful deep blue color. After being away from camp for a couple of hours, we decided we had found enough rocks to satisfy our interest, and decided to head back.
