Hat type?

[astafford]

How about suggestions with regard to a hat. Light ball cap? Brimmed hat for sun protection? Bandana? Is a brimmed hat with sunscreen necessary? I'm from Wyoming and we get hammered with pretty intense sun. I hear the AT called the "green tunnel". Much exposure to the sun on the trail? What do think is the right choice? Thanks!

[Starchild]

I do like a brimmed hat as it not only works for sun but for rain. It makes a great mini umbrella to keep water off of the head and neck and out of the collar of the rain jacket.

[mcstick]

I like the spring traing caps that mlb teams use. Flexfit, light, kinda water resistant. I reccomend a cubs hat.

[prain4u]

I like the spring training caps that mlb teams use. Flexfit, light, kinda water resistant. I reccomend a cubs hat.

You must LOSE your Cubs hat a lot or maybe you got it from a LOST and found box. Ahhhh, there is always next year!

[mcstick]

You must LOSE your Cubs hat a lot or maybe you got it from a LOST and found box. Ahhhh, there is always next year!

This year is last year's next year!!!

[tnvarmint]

I use and love the Frogg Toggs brimmed hat. I have two of em. The boonie and the aussie.

[Meriadoc]

Wear a hat if it works for you. I tried three different hats. They didn't like me. I lost each of them. Off a convertible, off my pack, off my head, out of my hand. (Yeah, that's four times, one hat came back to me three times before I lost it for good).

A visor was nice for hot days because it let my head breathe.
A full brim was decent for rain. But the baseball cap was decent for rain too. And frankly, hatless was just fine for rain. A hat was nice for wind driven rain, but I only encountered that a handful of times. And one of those times, it was so windy that no hat would have stayed on my head. Hope I have muddled things enough :P.

Merry

[Canam]

I wear a plain old ball cap. It's nothing fancy but it works.

[Astro]

I like the spring traing caps that mlb teams use. Flexfit, light, kinda water resistant. I reccomend a cubs hat.

Another potential benefit, perhaps it could help identify you as a "friendly" if you have an encounter with a bear.

[DeerPath]

I have this hat.

http://www.tilley.com/LTM6-AIRFLO-Nylamtium-Hat.aspx

[BirdBrain]

Wide brimmed hat. It helps with sun, rain and bug nets during black fly season in Maine.

[Old Hiker]

I used a ball-type billed cap. It kept the sun out of my eyes when hiking through the clear much better than my clip-on shades. It kept most of the rain off my glasses. It helped keep my head warm when my pile cap was too much and helped when my pile cap wasn't enough. I got mine in Franklin, NC with a Nikwasi symbol on it.

Boony hat was too floppy.

[Odd Man Out]

Not for gram weenies, but I wear this every day. Great for all purposes. I've gotten lots of sunburns on the tops of my ears when wearing baseball caps, so I always want a full brim.

http://www.barmahhatsusa.com/index.p...ter_d&tr_id=53

[Kerosene]

I've worn a Mountain Hardwear nylon ballcap with a plastic brim for over a decade. It's light, doesn't mind water, and keeps rain drops off my glasses for the most part. I keep thinking about a wide-brimmed hat, but it's really not needed for the AT and it makes me look like even more of a dork.

[SCRUB HIKER]

On the AT, I was exposed to the sun daily until about mid-April, when full leaf cover came in at all elevations. After that point, there really was very little sun exposure. I came home and all my friends who hadn't been outside for 5 months straight were tanner than I was, and I didn't even have a sock tan line.

At the beginning of the AT, it can be really neat to hike areas with big elevation gains, like the Smokies, because the amount of foliage changes by the hour as you ascend and descend. I remember descending into the NOC and dropping below the leaf-line, feeling the humidity skyrocket and the air become more stagnant almost instantly.

I didn't wear a hat. Most people don't. Some wear baseball hats. It's not like out West at all where it's an almost essential piece of clothing in the summer.

[hobby]

I have this hat.

http://www.tilley.com/LTM6-AIRFLO-Nylamtium-Hat.aspx

me too great in sun or rain

[TrilliumTrekker]

In Spring sunburn can be a problem until the trees leaf out. This is later than one might think in the higher elevations. (June) I have fair skin and find a wide brim hat is not enough so use sun screen on my face as well. I have used hats like Seattle Sombero, seen straw gardening and fishing hats on the trail, and currently I am using a bucket style 'cause it'll squash into the pack for easy storeage.

[bigcranky]

It's only the green tunnel in the summer. For a typical thru-hike starting in March, you'll want some sun protection. I usually just wear my Tilley hat and that's enough. Sunscreen works, of course. I see a lot of sun-burned thru-hikers early in the season.

In the summer I just wear a light nylon ball cap.

[Tipi Walter]

Standard load is always a baseball cap with the crushable brim---either Patagonia or Mt Hardwear. Problem is, I can't find a new flexible brim hat to replace my worn out models. Any suggestions?

[58starter]

Ball cap has always worked just fine for me. Sock cap when it is cold.