Fake Nails, AirPods, and a Tiny 'Vampire Diaries' Book: Yellowstone's Strangest Hot Springs Finds in 2026

Yellowstone crews recovered a record-breaking haul of trash from the park's hot springs this year, and some of it, like a McDonald's toy and a lump of children's slime, is stranger than you'd expect.

Yellowstone's Geology team had quite the haul this year, pulling out a record-breaking 20,100 pieces of trash, 5,600 rocks and sticks, and over 280 hats out of the park's hydrothermal areas. This is a 50% increase from last year’s haul.

An aerial view of the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park | Source: Pexels

Common finds were camera lens covers, binocular parts, pens, sunglasses, hair accessories, and hotel keys. But some items ranged from strange to stranger, including six Invisalign retainers, 15 fake nails, several floss picks, and a lump of glittery pink children's slime stuck to a piece of geyserite.

Pink slime | Source: Pexels

Five AirPods, three Delta Airlines flight pins, an inhaler, three golf tees, and an Uno card were among the unusual things staff retrieved, as well as Polaroid photos (including one featuring the hot spring it was fished out from), six Yellowstone pressed pennies, four Pokémon cards and figurines, and a teeny-tiny "The Vampire Diaries" book. There were also eight miniature race cars, two rubber ducks and a McDonald’s toy from 2010.

Two rubber duckies | Source: Pexels

“The more foot traffic an area gets, the more trash will be there—but this is especially true in wide open geyser basins with narrow boardwalks,” said Margery Price, Yellowstone’s physical science technician. She also said Midway Geyser Basin collects the most hats.