The Story Behind Yellowstone’s Unique Hat Collection

We've all lost something that means a lot to us. I get attached to items and will keep them until they're no longer usable—for instance, an ink pen. When I find one that I like, I'm not going to loan it out, and I'll keep it with me most of the time.

I get the same way about my ball caps. I'll wear it until it's unwearable, then I'll give it a proper goodbye, and then get a new one to take its place. I've found that I get so attached that I'll have one on while sitting on the couch watching TV.

So, for me, losing a hat would be like losing a member of the family.

Annually, in Yellowstone National Park, hundreds of individuals lose their hats. So much so, the park has a lost and found dedicated to the 'Hats of Yellowstone.'  Since this season is beginning to wind down, the park has proudly displayed the 300 hats that have been recovered during the summer of 2025.

Actually, there are so many items that are either tossed or lost in features at the park that they have a Geology team that is dedicated to just cleaning up Yellowstone's beauty.

That's a lot of stressful moments for park visitors, and a lot of money lost. The USGS estimates over $6,000 in hats have been recovered this year. It's not just hats that are retrieved from the park's hydrothermal areas, but 13,000 pieces of trash, 4,000 rocks and sticks, too. The team has walked over 1,300 miles of trails and has driven over 11,000 miles around the park.

Think about the lengths the Geology team has to go to retrieve this stuff. They can't wade out into the thermo pools to get your hat; they have to collect a collection of tools to get the job done.

Grabber poles up to 30-feet long, fishing rods, and even extra-long slotted spoons are used to remove trash and lost items.

Perhaps people aren't as attached to their hats as much as I am, but it's somewhat disheartening that there is so much debris and trash floating into the wind at Yellowstone National Park.