Yellowstone’s Geology Team has pulled a record haul of tourist debris from the park’s famous hydrothermal zones.
As of early September, crews had collected more than 20,100 pieces of trash, 5,600 rocks and sticks, and 280 hats from around geysers and hot springs, according to the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory’s USGS page. The staggering inventory includes five AirPods, six Invisalign retainers, 15 fake fingernails, three golf tees, an inhaler and an Uno card.
Margery Price, 27, physical science technician with the Park Geology Program, pointed to a persistent environmental threat behind the numbers. “The issue is made worse by the park’s high winds: unexpected gusts easily blow away tissues, maps, food wrappers, and even heavier items like sunglasses and hats,” she said.
The wind-blown waste joins an even stranger category of deliberately abandoned items. Someone left a glob of glittery pink children’s slime stuck to chunks of geyserite. Workers also recovered a mysterious two-inch copy of “The Vampire Diaries,” plus Polaroid photos, Pokemon cards and Yellowstone pressed pennies among their staff favorites.
Children’s belongings dominate one segment of the findings. Crews found eight mini race cars, three bouncy balls, 22 action figures, six Junior Ranger badges, two rubber ducks, a tie-dye fidget spinner and a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy dating to 2010.
The accessory count runs deep: 54 camera-lens caps, 47 hair ties, 42 pencils, 36 pairs of sunglasses, 20 hotel key cards and 17 pacifiers. Price delivered a pointed message about another common discard. “And contrary (apparently) to popular belief, hot springs are not wishing wells,” she said.
That particular habit has cost the park more than $18 in coins, including pesos, yen, euros and Canadian dollars. The foreign currency underscores how international visitors have joined domestic tourists in treating the thermal features as disposable backdrops.
The consequences extend far beyond unsightly clutter. Coins, trash and other foreign objects can clog vents, alter runoff and damage delicate microbial communities that have developed over thousands of years. Morning Glory Pool, located near Old Faithful in Upper Geyser Basin, famously shifted colors during the 20th century partly because visitors threw trash and other objects into its waters.
Yellowstone spans 2.2 million acres — roughly 3,472 square miles — and draws approximately 4.5 million visitors annually. The park’s geology staff now face the Sisyphean task of protecting that terrain from a public that keeps arriving with loose items and leaving them behind.
The park has not disclosed whether increased ranger presence or new signage campaigns will accompany the public release of these cleanup figures. What remains clear is the scale of the problem: more than 25,000 individual items removed from sensitive geothermal areas in under nine months, with autumn’s heavy visitation still ahead.
Yellowstone’s Geology Team continues its removal efforts across the park’s thermal basins as the busy fall season approaches.