Thunder Egg Trail

An easy loop trail at Rockhound State Park. On this trail, you get nice views of the campground, and off to the southwest through northwest, including nice views of the Big Florida mountains. Many people use this trail as a starting place for their rock collecting. This trail also has many interesting forms of cacti and other desert plants.
Diana near the trailhead

Hike data:

Controlling agency: New Mexico State Parks
Location in the state: Southwest; Florida Mountains
Trailhead waypoint(s): RHSP
Elevation:
start: 4599ft; 1402m end: 4599ft; 1402m
min: 4599ft; 1402m max: 4921ft; 1500m
Elevation gain/loss: 321 ft; 98 m
Length: 1.12 mi; 1.80 km.
How long it took us (HH:MM): 01:00.
Cleanliness: 9/10
Trail usage: 0.00 people/hour. We saw nobody, but then we were hiking in a light snowfall on the day after Christmas, and may have been the only crazy ones out hiking.
Trail Condition: Excellent; it is also wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side.
Fee: $5.00.
When we hiked it: 2000-12-26.
Trailhead facilities: Water, trash cans, toilets, picnic area.
Special features of the hike: Wildflowers, scenery, geology.
When to hike: All year. Summer will be hot.

Maps:

Map showing the location of the trailhead

Getting to the trailhead:

This trail takes off from the Rockhound State Park Campground. To get to the park, head south from Deming on NM 11 about five miles. Turn east on State Road 141 (Rockhond Rd) for about nine miles.

One trailhead (where we started the hike) is on the south side of the park. The other trailhead comes in at the northeast part of the campground.

The hike:

Trailhead
We started near the picnic area on the south side of the park. They have a sign which, among other things, tells you that this trail was built in 1995-6 by the YCC.
One of the reasons for hiking this trail is to see all of the desert plants, such as the cactus pictured here. While not unheard of, snow in this part of the state does not last long.
Cactus with fruit and snow
Snow in the sotol
This sotol with snow also caught our eyes.
This fishhook cactus has is well-named. Look at those spines!
Fishhook cactus
Big Florida Mountains
This hike is not just plants though. You get great views of the Big Florida Mountains to the south.
One of the interesting parts of hiking with snow on the ground is the interesting tracks that you find.
Bird tracks in the snow

Plants we saw along the trail:

Reader comments about this hike:

On Fri Oct 3 11:48:26 2003 Chuckie from aberdeen chicago said:
Thunder rocks are cool! The website is awesome! Thanks for the info! DONG

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