Behind The Iconic Hats Of Wyoming’s National Park Rangers

Park Rangers are a highly significant piece of the National Park system. They wear many hats, which come in all sorts of shapes and colors.

Suppose you've gone to any of the national parks (Yellowstone or Grand Teton), monuments (Devils Tower or Fossil Butte), national historical sites (Fort Laramie), national recreation areas (Bighorn Canyon), national historic trails (Oregon, Pony Express, Mormon, Califoria), or one of the other fantastic National Park Service sites. In that case, you've certainly had an encounter with a park ranger.

The most popular and most recognizable ranger hat is the 'Flat Hat.'

The Stetson-style hat provides rangers with protection from the sun and rain. Some of the cool features of the 'Flat Hat' are the "Montana Peak," which is on the crown of the hat, that helps rain roll off the hat.

The 'Flat Hats' worn today are very much like the hats of the first park rangers from the early days of the National Park System. The hats stand out and are an easy way to spot if you need help while in one of the park system's locations.

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Some of the other hats worn by park rangers are:

Safety Helmets - These helmets are worn when a Park Ranger is coming to help you in an emergency.

Wildland Fire Hat - Much like a hard hat worn on a construction site, but since these are being worn into the field to fight a fire, there will be added protection. Like, fire-resistant cloth to help protect against sparks.

Firefighter Helmet - Not all fires are in the backcountry. Some fires are structural or maybe even automobile fires, and the rangers will put on their firefighter hat, just like the firefighters in your community.

Flight Helmet - When rangers travel by helicopter or other aircraft to help in a search and rescue, or fly into the backcountry to do research,  they will wear the flight helmet.

Ball Cap - The casual style hat still allows rangers to represent the location where they're working by wearing the cap with the arrowhead patch, just like on the sleeve of their uniform.