Crazy Things Yellowstone Park Found in Thermal Pools This Summer

With the summer of 2026 pretty much wrapped up for this year, many agencies across Montana are tallying tourism numbers.  Things like how many vehicles or visitors, animal encounters and more.

via GIPHY

Buried deep within those numbers are just how much garbage tourists left behind for the summer in the national park.  So, what exactly did park officials find this year?  You won't believe some of the incredible things people left behind, lost or deposited in thermal areas for 2026.

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Crazy Things Yellowstone Park Found in Thermal Pools This Summer

This year Yellowstone National Park saw the largest amount of trash pulled from thermal areas in the park.  And sure, some normal things you might expect showed up when crews began the process.

JD

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Workers have also gathered more than 20,000 pieces of paper and plastic.  Tourists also deposited 5.600 rocks or sticks, 54 camera lens caps, hair ties, pacifiers and 36 pairs of sunglasses.  But the list gets even more weird than just common items.

Check Out the "Eww" Category of Things Pulled from Thermals in YNP

Yellowstone employees also had some rather odd things come from the thermals; items such as golf tees, an inhaler, nearly $20 in foreign coins and even an Uno card from the game itself.

uno uno cards and a card game on a table

But the grossest things that employees found has to be mentioned along with all the other craziness that tourists leave behind.  The biggest eww items include:

• Invisalign retainers
• 15 fake nails
• floss picks
• glob of pink kids' slime

Officials remind visitors to the park to not throw items into the thermal areas as foreign objects can clog or even redirect the geothermal pots causing permanent damage to them.  Learn more about the park here.