National

3,500 miles of toilet paper? That’s how much tourists use at Yellowstone National Park

A park employee holds multiple rolls of toilet paper at Yellowstone National Park.
A park employee holds multiple rolls of toilet paper at Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service

One of the nation’s most popular parks is preparing for another busy summer season by stocking up on a crucial item: toilet paper.

With millions of people visiting the park, rangers are stocking up on bathroom tissue — and lots of it.

There are more than 422 toilets that get cleaned every day in the national park. Those toilets get stocked with thousands of miles of toilet paper each summer.

The over 3,500 miles of toilet paper is enough to stretch from Key West, Florida, to Seattle. It’s also the length of about 528,000 school buses and 61,600 football fields.

“Keeping everything clean during the summer can often be the number one (or two) biggest tasks, especially at the most popular service areas,” the National Park Service said March 16. “But park staff put on a smile and roll with it!”

Yellowstone is the third most visited national park in the country. In 2021, more than 4.86 million people visited the park.

The tourist boom caused traffic jams, long lines and little parking across the park, and park rangers are preparing for similar levels of visitation this year.

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This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 11:26 AM with the headline "3,500 miles of toilet paper? That’s how much tourists use at Yellowstone National Park."

MC
Maddie Capron
Idaho Statesman
Maddie Capron is a McClatchy Real-Time News Reporter focused on the outdoors and wildlife in the western U.S. She graduated from Ohio University and previously worked at CNN, the Idaho Statesman and Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism.
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