Yellowstone Forever is the park’s nonprofit partner. It runs the bookstores in the park and an online store, and its hats include a cap with a Hayden Valley picture on it and a wide-brim bucket. Yellowstone General Stores, a concession company with shops in the park, sells the Pendleton cap and the Landmark, Parks Project and Carhartt beanies.
Our picks
Raised lettering$32.99
Yellowstone Est. 1872 Retro Trucker Cap
Yellowstone Forever park store
Chainstitch embroidery on a white front.
Grand Prismatic for $30$30
Yellowstone Embroidery Trucker Hat
ililily
The spring and a bison on a patch.
Panoramic embroidery$44.99
Rainier Hat Co.
The spring embroidered on the cap, front and sides.
Shade all around$33.99
Yellowstone Forever park store
Covers your ears and neck. Only S/M is in stock.
Beanie under $20$19.88
The Landmark Project · sold by Yellowstone General Stores
A knit bison from Yellowstone General Stores.
For cold nights$29.99
Carhartt · sold by Yellowstone General Stores
Carhartt’s cuffed beanie with the park’s buffalo on it.
Before you buy
Where the money goes
The park’s Park Store page says Yellowstone Forever’s store sales and memberships pay for its projects in the park.
Delaware North runs Yellowstone General Stores under a park concession. Concessioners pay the park a fee, and by law 80 percent of it stays in the park where it was paid.
Rainier Hat Co. says it donates 100% of its profits to the National Park Foundation and the National Parks Conservation Association. Pendleton says it has given nearly $2.4 million to the National Park Foundation. Our guide to park hats that give back has the rest.
Pack a beanie, even in July
Most of Yellowstone sits above 6,000 feet, and the park’s weather page says summer days are usually around 70°F while nights can freeze.
Yellowstone can experience winter-like weather any time of year. Depending on elevation, summer nighttime temperatures may even fall into the 20s with a light freeze.
At Old Faithful, the average July low is 39°F and the average September low is 29°F. A cap won’t keep your ears warm, and a beanie fits in a jacket pocket.
The park’s safety page says a calm, sunny morning can turn stormy fast. Most afternoons are windy, often with rain and lightning, and cotton dries slowly.
Make the beanie your main hat in spring and fall, when days are 30°F to 60°F and nights drop into the teens or single digits. In winter, the park’s winter safety page says to wear wool or synthetic layers under a windproof hood, so leave the cap at the lodge.
None of these is a sun hat
The sun is stronger at this elevation, and the CDC says a ball cap isn’t enough. It recommends a brim of at least 3 inches all the way around.
None of these hats has a sun rating, and the bucket hat doesn’t say how wide its brim is. For a long hike with no shade, get a real sun hat, like one of the two in our main picks.
Tighten your hat on the boardwalks
Hats blow off at the hot springs all the time. By early September, the park’s geology team had pulled more than 280 hats out of thermal areas this year, and the USGS called it a record year so far.
If you’re adventuring in a windy area, consider tightening or taking off your hat.
If yours blows in, leave it, because the ground by the springs can be a thin crust over scalding water and the park says to stay on the boardwalk. Pull your snapback a hole tighter at Grand Prismatic, or carry the hat. The bucket hat doesn’t list a chin cord, so carry it on the boardwalk.
The caps
Best for raised park lettering
Yellowstone Est. 1872 Retro Trucker Cap
Yellowstone Forever park store
- Style
- Washed-twill 5-panel trucker cap with contrasting mesh and visor
- Design
- Raised chainstitch Yellowstone lettering with Est. 1872
- Made of
- Washed twill front; mesh back
- Fit
- Adjustable snapback
- Giving
- Yellowstone Forever, the park's nonprofit partner, says store sales fund its park support
The chainstitch gives the lettering some texture without a landscape picture, and buying from Yellowstone Forever supports the park’s nonprofit. For the same $32.99, the store’s Masterpiece cap shows Hayden Valley in a sublimated print beneath a leather patch.
Downsides
The white front shows sweat and trail dust fast.
Best for a Pendleton cap under $30
Yellowstone National Park Trucker Hat
Pendleton, sold by Yellowstone General Stores / Delaware North
$29.50
Check price at Yellowstone General Stores / Delaware North: Yellowstone National Park Trucker Hat- Style
- Trucker cap
- Design
- Yellowstone emblem
- Made of
- Cotton/polyester blend with mesh panels
- Fit
- Adjustable snapback
- Care
- Spot clean
- Giving
- Sold by Delaware North, a for-profit park concessioner; the park gets franchise fees, not a per-hat donation
The general store’s price is lower than Pendleton’s $35 National Park Trucker, which appears to be the same Yellowstone cap. Pendleton also sells the shape for five other parks.
Best for Grand Prismatic for $30
Yellowstone Embroidery Trucker Hat
ililily
Some colors or sizes were sold out when we checked.
- Style
- Trucker with a structured cotton front, mesh back and distressed brim
- Design
- Embroidered patch of Grand Prismatic Spring and bison across the front; Yellowstone on the back mesh
- Made of
- 60% cotton, 40% polyester
- Fit
- Snapback
The large Grand Prismatic patch makes this a good option for detailed embroidery around $30. Its frayed brim has a deliberately worn look, and the mesh back lets in more air than Rainier Hat Co.’s all-cotton crown.
Downsides
ililily’s listing says not to wash it at all, just wipe it with a damp cloth, and it comes in one size.
Best for the spring embroidered on the cap
Yellowstone National Park Hat
Rainier Hat Co.
- Style
- Structured mid-profile 5-panel snapback
- Design
- Panoramic embroidery of Grand Prismatic Spring across the front and sides
- Made of
- 100% cotton; heather gray crown
- Fit
- Plastic snapback; one size
- Care
- Hand wash only
- Giving
- Rainier Hat Co. says it donates 100% of profits to national park nonprofits
- Reviews
- 5.0 from 6 reviews on Rainier Hat Co.'s site
Rainier Hat Co.’s Grand Prismatic Spring and bison design continues around the sides of the cap. The extra $15 over ililily buys a wider embroidered view and a hat you can hand wash.
Downsides
$44.99 is about as much as any park cap costs, and $12 more than Yellowstone Forever’s trucker. The crown is all cotton with no mesh, so it’s hotter than a trucker in the sun and slow to dry after a storm. The back of the embroidery isn’t lined.
Best for shade on your ears and neck
Wide Brim Bucket Hat
Yellowstone Forever park store
Some colors or sizes were sold out when we checked.
- Style
- Wide-brim bucket hat
- Design
- Raised embroidered logo
- Made of
- Soft washed canvas
- Fit
- Pull-tie adjuster; S/M and L/XL
- Sun
- None claimed
- Giving
- Sold by Yellowstone Forever, the park's nonprofit partner
This bucket hat from the park’s nonprofit store is the only one of these hats that comes in two sizes, and a pull-tie tightens it. Its brim goes all the way around, so it shades your ears and the back of your neck, which a cap can’t.
Downsides
Only S/M was in stock, and the store says it’s running low.
The beanies
Acrylic is a synthetic, so it’s fine for Yellowstone, where the park’s winter page says to wear wool or synthetic and skip cotton. Our beanie roundup covers more parks.
Best for a cheap beanie for the bag
Yellowstone Bison Beanie
The Landmark Project, sold by Yellowstone General Stores
- Style
- Knit beanie
- Design
- Knit bison design in muted colors
- Made of
- 100% acrylic
- Fit
- Pull-on; one size
- Giving
- Sold by a for-profit park concessioner; part of its franchise fee goes to the park
At under $20, this is the least expensive beanie here. The knit bison gives it a Yellowstone design without the larger landscape on Parks Project’s version.
Best for a jacquard-knit bison
Yellowstone Bison Beanie
Parks Project, sold by Yellowstone General Stores
- Style
- Cuffed knit beanie
- Design
- Jacquard-knit bison, mountains and clouds; woven Parks Project label on the cuff
- Fit
- Pull-on with a cuff; one size
- Giving
- Sold by a for-profit park concessioner; part of its franchise fee goes to the park
It’s a jacquard knit of bison, mountains and clouds, and it’s the only beanie here with a full knit design.
Parks Project doesn’t sell a Yellowstone cap, and its own site has Yellowstone clothes but no hats. The general store is the only place to get this beanie. Parks Project says it has given more than $60,000 to Yellowstone Forever.
Downsides
$39.99 is $20 more than the Landmark beanie.
Best for a cuff over your ears
Yellowstone Cuffed Beanie
Carhartt, sold by Yellowstone General Stores
- Style
- Cuffed rib-knit beanie
- Design
- Embroidered Yellowstone buffalo logo; Carhartt label
- Made of
- 100% acrylic
- Fit
- Pull-on with a cuff; one size
- Giving
- Sold by a for-profit park concessioner; part of its franchise fee goes to the park
It’s Carhartt’s rib-knit watch cap with the Yellowstone buffalo logo embroidered on the front, and Yellowstone General Stores sells it in brown, black and white. The cuff puts two layers over your ears.
Downsides
It’s too warm for a summer afternoon. It comes in one size.