We learned that juniper trees are pretty amazing trees. Based on the conditions, they can shut off part of their branch system on one side and continue growing in another direction. Most of the trees we saw had large, twisted trunks with a number of branches, often looking dead, but on closer inspection a small part of the tree might was still alive. Some of the trees we saw had only a few branches kept alive by a small piece of cryptobiotic crust. Cryptobiotic crust is a "crunchy" covering on the ground consisting of fungi, lichens and other microorganisms that are critical for the desert environment (provides plant life with nutrients, keeps sand from blowing away, etc). Protecting the crust is important and there were a lot of signs and pamphlets about it everywhere (Don't bust the crust!).