The park’s hydrothermal zones, home to iconic geysers and hot springs, have become the focus of a new cleanup drive as crews scrapped away trash that threatens these fragile features.
The haul includes 5,600 rocks and sticks, 280 hats, and a record‑breaking pile of paper and plastic—numbers that echo the park’s busiest season, with 2.64 million visitors so far this year.
Margery Price, a physical‑science technician with the park’s Geology Program, warned that foreign material can clog a geyser’s water supply or alter a hot spring’s color. “The debris can damage the delicate chemistry of these features,” she said, citing the Morning Glory Pool’s historic color change.
Some of the more bizarre items included six Invisalign retainers, a lump of pink slime fused to geyserite, and a single Uno card. The park has a program that washes and donates recovered hats to local shelters, and a FIFA 2026 World Cup cap was earmarked for a youth soccer club in Wyoming.
Officials say the cleanup will roll into the next season’s inventory sweep in January 2027, with plans to extend operations to the Midway Geyser Basin. The effort is part of a broader strategy to keep the park’s most iconic landscapes pristine for future generations.