Strangest items pulled from Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas include Pokémon cards, retainers and more
Strangest items pulled from Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas include Pokémon cards, retainers and more
Jocelyn Fiset Tue, September 15, 2026 at 7:06 PM UTC
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Pokémon cards, Invisalign retainers, The Vampire Diaries and more. It turns out, Yellowstone National Park's hydrothermal areas are good places to find all kinds of unusual items.
With more than 4.5 million visitors to the park every year, it's no surprise that park staff constantly have to remove litter from these areas.
Whether intentional or accidental, debris often builds up in high-visitation areas like Midway Geyser Basin, home of Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Old Faithful area, according to a Monday press release from Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
As of early September 2026, Yellowstone's geology team had removed more than 20,100 pieces of trash, 5,600 rocks and sticks, and more than 280 hats, making it a record-setting year so far.
"Among all that debris have been a lot of interesting items, some wacky, some yucky, and others… puzzling?" the press release said.
More than 280 hats were collected, including a FIFA 2026 Men's World Cup hat, a baseball cap with "COWBOY HAT" on it, and a Roblox bucket hat from St. Kitts and Nevis.
Some of the more bizarre Yellowstone National Park Geology Team finds from hydrothermal areas during the 2026 summer season are pictured in September 2026. (National Park Service/Margery Price)
Contrary to alleged popular belief, hot springs are not wishing wells. The Yellowstone geology team collected more than $18 in coins, most of them thrown into hot springs or geysers, or accidentally dropped between boardwalk planks.
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The coins were not just U.S. denominations. They also included pesos, yen, euros and Canadian dollars, officials said.
"In addition to clogging hydrothermal feature vents, throwing in coins can harm bacterial and algal formations in hydrothermal areas—damage that can take months to years to undo," they said.
Some of the more bizarre Yellowstone National Park Geology Team finds from hydrothermal areas during the 2026 summer season are pictured in September 2026. (National Park Service/Margery Price)
Some of the more head-scratching items included six Invisalign retainers, 15 fake nails, a lump of glittery pink children's slime, five AirPods, three Delta flight pins, an inhaler, three golf tees and a single Uno card.
Other highlights include a rainbow tie-dye fidget spinner, two rubber ducks, and a McDonald’s toy from 2010.
Yellowstone's geology team also revealed its favorite finds. Those included seven Polaroid photos, including several depicting the hydrothermal features where they were found, six Yellowstone pressed pennies, four Pokémon cards and figurines, and a 2-inch copy of The Vampire Diaries.
Some of the more bizarre Yellowstone National Park Geology Team finds from hydrothermal areas during the 2026 summer season are pictured in September 2026. (National Park Service/Margery Price)
Some of the more bizarre Yellowstone National Park Geology Team finds from hydrothermal areas during the 2026 summer season are pictured in September 2026. (National Park Service/Margery Price)
Officials are reminding park visitors to "stash your trash" when traveling through Yellowstone National Park, especially in hydrothermal areas.
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