Visitors to Yellowstone National Park dropped a record-breaking number of objects into its geysers and hot springs in 2026, and park crews have the haul to prove it. A September report from the U.S. Geological Survey counts more than 20,100 pieces of trash, 5,600 rocks and sticks, and nearly 300 hats pulled from the park's hydrothermal features—a 50 percent jump from 2025.
The spike tracks with a busy season: over 2.64 million people visited the park between January and July 2026, nearly matching the record year of 2021. Margery Price, a park physical science technician who authored the report, says wide-open geyser basins with narrow boardwalks are the worst culprits, with Midway Geyser Basin singled out as the park's biggest hat collector.
The inventories range from predictable to absurd. Alongside camera lens caps, hair ties, three dozen sunglasses and golf tees, crews recovered Legos, dental retainers, eight miniature race cars, two rubber ducks, a two-inch copy of The Vampire Diaries, a single UNO card, a 2010 McDonald's toy, and three Delta Airlines lapel pins. One of the strangest finds: Polaroid photos of the very springs they fell into.
This isn't just a litter problem. Foreign objects can clog a geyser's plumbing or block runoff channels, lowering water temperatures, changing colors, killing heat-loving microbes, and even altering eruption schedules. The cautionary tale is Minute Geyser, where early 20th-century visitors tossing rocks into its main vent permanently shrank eruptions that once fired every 60 seconds up to 50 feet high. Those rocks have since been cemented in place by mineral deposits and can't be removed. Cleanup efforts date back to 1942, when a park geologist found springs choked with rocks and logs.
For travellers, the practical advice is simple. Wind is the main enemy—hold onto hats, scarves, gloves and anything loose when walking the boardwalks. If you do drop something in, stay on the boardwalk and tell park staff rather than leaning over or stepping off. The ground around thermal features can look solid but give way, water temperatures run 150 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and more than 20 people have died from burns after entering the features since records began.
None of this means skip the geyser basins—they're the reason most people come. Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, Black Sand Basin and Artist Paintpots are all part of the annual cleanup circuit and remain among the park's standout sights. Just zip your pockets, strap on your hat, and let the springs keep their own chemistry.
Story reported by Outside Online.