It's been six years, but we went back to Joshua Tree again for the holiday weekend. Since the place we usually camp (Indian Cove) has no actual Joshua trees, we took a swing through the main part of the park afterwards to see them.

Scott Rychnovsky scrambling at Indian Cove, Joshua Tree National Park, California Curves ahead sign at Indian Cove, Joshua Tree National Park, California
Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park, California Late afternoon sun in Joshua Tree National Park, California

Something I find fascinating about Joshua trees (besides the fact that like tree ferns they're not trees at all) is the way they embody mathematical binary trees so naturally: they go straight for a while, then they bifurcate, then straight a while again, etc. I think I've heard that they tend towards being complete binary trees, because the branches are all likely to bifurcate at the same time, but that was obviously not true of all the trees I saw. It's a phenomenon that's easier to see in the smaller trees that have only branched a few times, rather than the big tangled ones. I tried to capture some of that in my photos, but I don't think I really succeeded.

The rest of the gallery.




Comments:

None:
2013-11-19T08:35:58Z

I would very much like to see the rest of the photos, but the link seems to be broken.

And I share your fondness for Joshua trees and the mathematical thoughts they inspire. See: http://bit-player.org/2013/joshua-trees-and-toothpicks

Brian Hayes

11011110:
2013-12-18T04:17:28Z

The problem was that I forgot to put http:// at the start of the url. Sorry it took so long to figure it out and fix.