Cryptobiotic Soil

Cryptobiotic Soil

Arches National Park is doing a fair job of protecting their fragile Cryptobiotic Soil.   The desert sand forms a thin crust as a result of microorganisms that protects substantially against wind and water errosion.   It takes years for this crust to form and one foot step destroys it.    Signs are well posted to warn people to stay on the trails.   But many do not read the signs, or judging from the European and Asian visitor count,  perhaps cannot read english.

Delicate  Arch.  Maybe I can photoshop out the humans.

I was surprised to learn that Arches ranks 19th in the number of visitors among national parks with  750,000 people entering per year.  Compare that to Smokey Mountains with 9.8 million, Grand Canyon with 4.3 million, and Zion with 2.7 million.   Problem is, everyone wants to visit the same five most famous arches and the concentration of people in those few places is quite high.  For a photographer its not the line to the bathroom that is maddening - it's the inability to take a picture of an arch without some fat guy in a Hawaiian shirt standing in the middle.

Maob's famous slickrock formations.   

Take a photo vertically to avoid getting 197 people in the picture

Boys at Delicate Arch.  Might be an Energy Vortex here.