The best hat for hiking Zion

Summer

Zion’s summer is May through September, and days regularly pass 100°F.

That’s harder than it sounds. The first canyon shuttle leaves at 7 a.m. and Angels Landing takes most people about four hours round trip, so your hat has to handle midday sun in July.

The CDC says to wear a brim at least 3 inches wide all the way around.

The CDC also says a cap with ear and neck flaps works. The Zion bucket shades all the way around, though the listing doesn’t say how wide. Nothing on it covers your neck, so wet a bandana and tie it at the back. If you’d rather wear a cap, Switchback Travel suggests a sun hoodie with the hood up.

Zion Forever also sells a $36.99 Soaker Patch hat with Zion embroidered on it, in three sizes, but its listing gives no sun rating or brim width either.

Angels Landing

You need a permit from the Recreation.gov lottery, and the NPS Angels Landing page explains how. Without one, you can still hike from the Grotto to Scout Lookout, 2.25 miles and 1,000 feet up. If your hat has no cord, put it in your pack at Scout Lookout.

Past Scout Lookout, the last half mile follows a narrow ridge with a single chain to hold. NPS says most of the deaths on Angels Landing since 1930 happened on that stretch.

A chin cord fixes that, and the Zion bucket’s cord has a slider, so cinch it before the chains. Switchback Travel says wide brims catch more wind than caps, so on a gusty day carry it past Scout Lookout.

Thunderstorms come most often in the afternoon, and monsoon season is July to September, so that’s one more reason to start early.

The Narrows

Sun barely matters here, because the canyon walls are 1,000 feet tall and little light reaches the floor. More than half the hike is in the Virgin River, and even in summer the water is only 56 to 68°F. In spring and fall it’s in the 40s.

From the Temple of Sinawava it’s up to 10 miles round trip, so plan on hours in shade and cold water.

In summer any cap is fine down there. Outside summer, when the water is in the 40s, keep a synthetic beanie like Parks Project’s all-polyester Zion Views in your dry bag. NPS says to carry extra warm clothes in a dry bag in any season.

Winter

Zion winters are cold and often wet, with highs of 50 to 60°F and nights well below freezing. Nearly half the year’s rain and snow falls December through March, and shaded trails stay icy and cold all day.

Wear a beanie on cold mornings and shaded trails, but on a dry, sunny afternoon you’ll want a cap instead, so keep the beanie in your pack. Parks Project’s and Landmark’s Zion beanies are both synthetic, and there are more in the national park beanies guide.

Spring and fall

In spring and fall the temperature can swing 30°F in a day. A beanie for the cold morning and a brimmed hat for later give you more flexibility than either alone.

You may not get into the Narrows at all in spring, because the park closes it when snowmelt runs the river high. In 2023 that was most of April, May and half of June.

Souvenir caps

A Zion cap shades your face but not your ears or neck. On an open trail at noon in July, wear the bucket or put a sun hoodie’s hood up over the cap.

Zion Forever Project sells a Watchman trucker from Concept 360 for $21.99, cheaper than most park-store caps, and its mesh back breathes better than a solid crown.

Rainier Hat Co.’s two Zion caps, one of Angels Landing and one of the Narrows, cost $44.99, twice the park-store trucker. They come in one size, and some buyers say Rainier Hat Co.’s caps run large. Rainier Hat Co. says it donates 100% of its profits to the National Park Foundation and the National Parks Conservation Association.

More Zion caps are on the Zion page, and there’s a Grand Canyon hiking hat guide too.

Sizing

The bucket and both beanies come in one size. If one-size hats sit loose on you, the Soaker Patch comes in S/M, L/XL and XL/XXL.