White Fir Springs Thunderegg Bed
Prineville, Crook County, Oregon. Public rockhound collection area.
Details
- Where
- Prineville, Crook County, OR. No street address stated. Directions
- Season
- Access road closed in winter due to snowfall (check with USFS November through March).
- Getting there
- About 5 miles off U.S. Highway 26 on Forest Road 3350.
- Access
- Personal non-commercial use only, 25 pounds per day plus one piece with a yearly limit of 250 pounds; many areas surrounded by private property.
- Website
- bendbulletin.com
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management and Ochoco National Forest.
Thundereggs filled with colorful jasper in shades of red, yellow, tan and creamy white; they can be difficult to remove from the hard rhyolite matrix, so bring hand tools adequate for breaking rock.
Notable Events
- 1965DOGAMI states that the thunder egg became the official state rock on March 29, 1965; this concerns the collected material, not establishment of the bed. d3itl75cn7661p.cloudfront.net
Sources
- fs.usda.gov/r06/ochoco/natural-resources/rocks-minerals
- bendbulletin.com/2020/09/18/dig-for-history-in-the-ochoco-national-forest
- visitredmondoregon.com/attractions/white-fir-springs
- visitcentraloregon.com/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/rockhounding
- d3itl75cn7661p.cloudfront.net/dogami/og/OGv51n04.pdf
- oregondiscovery.com/white-fir-springs