Baker Mine in Deming NM

Jeff and I joined the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club on the monthly field trip which was to the Baker Mine, in Deming NM in search of geodes and thunder eggs. We don't know what we are looking for which makes things interesting, but it is a way to get outside and get to places that are usually off limits for people. Deming is not somewhere that was on our radar. We have a lot to explore and Deming is a good 4 to 4 and a half hours away. Little did we know the interesting things that are out there! Jeff left a little early and we started the drive Friday at around 4:30 and got there around 8:30 or so. We had a hotel reserved which made things nice. We checked in and then headed to the meeting place in the morning. We then joined the caravan out to a rock shop to see specimens and then on out to the claim. It was 45 minutes of driving on a good two-track out in the middle of nowhere to get to what essentially is just a big pit. Everyone was excited and we all scrambled into the pit with our shovels, rakes, rock hammers, picks and buckets. You plant yourself near a wall or on a pile and then just sift and rake and pull round globs out of the ground for hours! What a strange and addicting thing to do. After a while it all looks the same, and with the geodes or eggs you may never know what is inside unless you can get someone to cut them open for you! I smacked some open and my best specimen broke into a few pieces - blue opal...wish I hadn't done that! After about 5 hours we showered and ate and went to bed. The next day was scheduled to go even further away to a rhyolite site. Unfortunately I had a terrible migraine in the middle of the night and was not up for it. We instead got a later start and went to Rockhound State Park where we got rhyolite specimens. We didn't have time to go to Rock City which is a park on my radar for photo opportunities...next time I hope! At 3:30 we headed home and went through some interesting (maybe) towns. Didn't make it to Silver City either. Here are some photos of the general landscape and a few taken in Hatch (famous chilis) I hopped out of the car for!