(2009) I spent most of August 2009 hiking around Glacier National Park in Montana doing fieldwork toward my doctoral dissertation. I was studying alpine treeline, so pictured here is a typical day of hard scientific work for me. I'm standing on my head in a patch of krummholz (horizontal growth form that trees get forced into by snow at the treeline) trying to get soil samples and measure basal diameters of stems. It was generally a rather undignified job that leaves one covered in subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) needles and sap while trying frantically to juggle too many bits of equipment and contorting into awkward positions.

But it was all FOR SCIENCE!