The best national park trucker hats

The full-color patch shows the Watchman, the peak over the park’s south entrance, with the river below and Zion National Park across the top. The front is khaki with a navy brim and mesh, and it’s the cheapest cap here, sold by Zion Forever, the park’s nonprofit.

The front has mountains set inside the outline of a bugling elk. The Rocky Mountain Conservancy has been the park’s nonprofit partner since 1931, and its store says purchases pay for research and education in the park. Members get it for $24.64. Other stores and brands that give back are in National park hats that give back.

Mountains, pines, a moose and a starry sky spread across most of the front, with the park’s name embroidered in an arch on the mesh back. It’s the cheapest full-front embroidery on a trucker, though brick costs $3 more than gray. The same cap comes for Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Yosemite, Glacier Bay and Death Valley, all $29 or $30.

The round embroidered patch puts small mountains under the park’s name, with a merrowed edge, the thick wrapped border you see on scout badges. The front is brushed cotton with mesh behind it, and American Needle makes the same cap for Joshua Tree.

The raised lettering is the reason to choose this cap. Its chainstitch forms loops that stand off the fabric like rope. Yellowstone Forever is the park’s nonprofit partner, and its store says every purchase supports projects in the park. Yellowstone hats includes landscape designs as well.

It’s the only leather patch here, and it comes with a lifetime warranty. Byward, in Ottawa, stamps the design into full-grain leather with hot brass dies, which it says cuts deeper than laser engraving and won’t fade or crack. It makes the same cap for Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Grand Canyon.

The patch shows the canyon under the Milky Way, with Protect Dark Skies in one corner. Grand Canyon Conservancy, the park’s nonprofit partner, sells it and says the money goes toward protecting the park, including its night skies. Pacific North Nest Designs makes the patch and sews it on in Northern California, and it says printed patches are its specialty.

The store calls it a trucker, but there’s no mesh. The sides and back are fabric with holes punched in it, and the front is a full-color photo of the mountain. Rainier Guest Services runs both inns in the park and says $1 from every hat goes to the park.

It’s panoramic embroidery with no patch, and it fills the whole front with the summit above Myrtle Falls, lupine and a bald eagle. It’s the same front as Rainier Hat Co.’s regular cap, with gray mesh in back instead of cotton. Rainier Hat Co. says it donates 100% of its profits to the National Park Foundation and the National Parks Conservation Association.