A Post About Soil. No, Seriously.

Whenever I'm traveling with my dad, a former biology teacher, we're always enlightened by stories of the different flora or fauna of the area. 

(And yes, the actual words 'flora' and 'fauna' are always used.)

So even though I didn't have my dad on our Moab trip this weekend, I did have Kylie, who also happens to have a degree in biology.

So here's what I learned this weekend:

Many areas in Arches National Park are covered in cryptobiotic soil/crust. 

 This crust is alive, made up of bacterias and algae, and is basically holding the desert sands together. 

 Not to sound all environmentally hysterical, but if you don't have the cryptobiotic soil,
 things like this  

crumble and fall down.

Cassidy and I were pretty excited about the soil situation, especially since it has such a cool sounding name.  We even got nervous we were going to accidentally step on some and have the cryptobiotic police put us in environmentally friendly cryptobiotic jail where we'd spend our days composting!

Here's what cryptobiotic soil looks like

Cassidy and I also tried our hand at bouldering.

Look at us being all environmental AND outdoorsy!

But don't worry. 

It wasn't all learning and rock hugging on this trip.

We found plenty of crazies to laugh and giggle about.

Check out this dude.

We were at least 10 miles from town, and this guy's got camping supplies and a skateboard!

He's probably buddies with the dude that ran the half marathon barefooted in a 3-piece suit. 

 (BTW, barefooted 3-piece suit dude smoked me!)