Lucy McGuire, Arielle Link and Timon Keller stand shoulder to shoulder smiling and laughing in front of the calm blue waters of Jackson Lake. The Teton Mountains rise up dramatically behind them speckled by patches of snow.

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone

Researchers offline

Story by Elise Mahon | Photos by Althea Dotzour

Science doesn’t just happen in a laboratory. That’s especially true for Monica Turner’s research team, who spend time in the field, studying forests in national parks that people love.

It also doesn’t need to stay confined to journals read only by other scientists. The lab relishes in opportunities to share their work with park visitors and other people who care about the places they study.

The privilege of working, eating, living and sleeping in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks is a unique experience and one that Turner lab members Arielle Link, Timon Keller and Lucy McGuire don’t take for granted. Being in these spaces and sharing their findings with others motivates them as they hustle through days filled with surveys, site visits and data collection.

But with such busy field days, it’s also important for them to take time to care for themselves. Luckily, the beautiful ecosystem they’re all driven to study and protect also provides the perfect place to recharge.

Timon Keller balances stacked containers holding his lunch and three large water bottles hanging from his fingers as he walks from the large RV to the white mini van the researchers use to drive around the parks.

The graduate students make their home base in a camper that can move with them over the course of the field season. Before heading out for a day surveying park visitors, Timon packs lunches and plenty of water to stay hydrated at high altitude.

Arille Link squats down by the RV to pick through a green storage tub full of orange vests and other equipment she will need in the field. Her red backpack, which will carry the supplies she needs sits at the edge of the frame.

It’s early in the morning, and Arielle is deciding which equipment to carry with her into the woods. Her backpack will hold the water, food, research equipment, laptop and bear spray she needs to stay safe and complete the day’s data collection.

Wearing sunglasses and the legs of her pants rolled up, Arielle Link bends over to dip her hands into the clear, shallow water of a creek. There is a simple wood panel bridge over the creek behind her and lodgepole pines stretching up into a blue sky on either side of the clearing around the creek.

The sun feels very warm at altitude, especially while hiking and carrying gear for a summer field season. After spending the morning trekking through forests gathering data from research plots in areas burned and affected by the 1988 Huck Fire, Arielle cools off in Sheffield Creek.

Inside the team's RV, Timon Keller sits in the bottom bunk bed behind a gauzy translucent mosquito net that is hang from the top bunk which also stores water bottles, clothes and other personal belongings. His face is illuminated by the light of his laptop screen in the otherwise dark lower bunk.

Timon’s home-sweet-home during the field season is this bunk bed nest. The graduate students live in close quarters in the camper, and a veil of mosquito netting keeps sleeping spaces comfortable. The mosquitos can be especially persistent in the parks, even though the students try to minimize how long the camper door is open.

Sitting by the door inside the RV is a plain white trashcan boldly marked by neon pink tape and black sharpie as the "Mosquito Cemetary". Beside the trashcan are two cans of bear spray, sitting idly in their holsters ready to go for the researchers to grab on their way out the door.

Keeping pests at bay Cans of bear spray and a trash can for fallen mosquitoes sit next to the trailer’s front door. The researchers are well practiced at darting in and out of the camper quickly, especially in the evenings, when a haze of mosquitoes descends on the campground.

In a large brown tent beside the RV, Timon Keller, Lucy McGuire and Arielle Link add condiments to their burrito dinner. The researchers all look excitedly at the collapsible table before them which is full of sliced avocado, cilantro, sour cream, tortillas, chips, salsa, rice and beans.

Dinner is a shared endeavor. Timon, Lucy and Arielle take turns cooking and cleaning up. Sitting down together for meals builds camaraderie and is a nice touch point amid everyone’s busy days.

Lookin gout the windows from the back seat of the minivan the researchers drive, a stand of burned lodgepole pine are illuminated by evening sunlight. Timon drives the van and the edge of someone's sandal is catches a patch of sunlight in the car dark van.

After dinner, it’s time to take care of laundry. The students load up the van and drive a half hour to the laundromat in Colter Bay on the shores of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

Timon Keller squats down in the foreground to load his laundry into a washing machine at a laundromat lined with washer and dryers. Behind him, Arielle Link and Lucy McGuire also prepare to put their own laundry into machines.

Timon, Arielle and Lucy start loading their clothes into washers as other park visitors wait for their wash and dry cycles to finish. The students’ routine chores reveal the more mundane side of living and working in the parks.

Looking out from inside a dryer, Arielle Link is smiling and holds a handful of colorful hiking socks while she moves her laundry over from a washing machine.

But the researchers have learned how to make the most of laundry day. A quiet excitement starts to build as they load their clothes into the machines. That’s because they know just how to pass the time during wash and dry cycles. Colter Bay offers the perfect opportunity to enjoy another unique feature of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: an alpine lake.

Stretching out at the base of the dramatic Tetons in various hues of blue are the calm waters of Jackson Lake. It's an overcast day but Arielle Link's head can be seen poking up from the water, bobbing along and smiling in the middle of the frame.

While the dirt and sweat from the work clothes they wear conducting research in the field wash out in the laundry, the three young scientists indulge in their own quiet moments surrounded by the beauty that inspires them to study this unique ecosystem.

“I’m happiest when I’m swimming,” says Arielle. With the Teton Range as a backdrop, Arielle enjoys the chilly water of Jackson Lake. Lucy eventually jumps in, too, while further down the shoreline, Timon skips rocks across the surface of the lake. While the dirt and sweat from the work clothes they wear conducting research in the field wash out in the laundry, the three young scientists indulge in their own quiet moments surrounded by the beauty that inspires them to study this unique ecosystem.

Researchers offline

See more stories in the “Tomorrow's Yellowstone” series

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone: Arielle

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone: Monica

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone: Lucy

Tomorrow’s Yellowstone: Timon