I was wondering what people use as an all around hat while camping? I have a Columbia hat I like that has the Elmer Fudd flaps and has a fleece liner. However it is not very thick and in temperatures down near zero I need to augment it with a hood or another hat over it.

Appreciate any pictures or links.

I'm pretty much glued to my Stormy Kromer for everyday winter wear. My wife calls it my Elmer Fudd Designer Hat.

I use the High Plains Sheepskin hat. The flaps are adjustable, so it works for most situations. It has performed for me in temps down to -40. I do need to supplement it with a face shield type balaclava if crossing a lake (or the like) in high winds.



High Plains Sheepskin

I have three, in increasing order of warmth:

1) Simple knit wool hat from Sports Authority

2) Thinsulate-lined wool/acrylic blend hat from Duluth Trading Company

3) Rabbit fur hat from a garage sale (50 cents!)

I use a fleece hat. neck gaiter if really cold and windy. Warmest is a wool hand knit hat that was made large then felted. Plenty warm to -45°F.

quote TuscaroraBorealis: "


I use the High Plains Sheepskin hat. The flaps are adjustable, so it works for most situations. It has performed for me in temps down to -40. I do need to supplement it with a face shield type balaclava if crossing a lake (or the like) in high winds.


High Plains Sheepskin "

Nice hat. Thanks for the link. I'm always amazed at the number of US manufacturers that I have never heard of.

quote DanCooke: "I use a fleece hat. neck gaiter if really cold and windy. Warmest is a wool hand knit hat that was made large then felted. Plenty warm to -45°F."

That is pretty much what I got. Fleece hat with ear flaps and a hand knit wool hat that can fit over the fleece hat if needed. Also have a balaclava for when it gets really cold or crossing a winding lake.

I use a stormy kromer for daily wear or just hiking. When camping I have a fleece lined wool stocking cap. Use neck gaiter and capeline balacava with the stocking cap when really cold.

Felted wool. Its nigh impervious to winds and not terribly stiff. I use alpaca and merino wool. Yep I knit em big and then shrink em.

I made myself a nose gaiter with cutout for snot for sleeping mostly. My parka has a coyote ruff and that keeps my face warm.

Smartwool hats all the way. They are wonderful and always keep my head warm. We also have smartwool neck gaiters that I pull up over my ears too for extra warmth. Never have a cold head in wool!!!

Until last year, I used the same acrylic hat my mom bought for me in second grade. I still have the fuzzy memory of picking it out of a bin at some store in downtown Duluth. I was amazed at how well it held together, only one small hole in the top. Unfortunately, I lost it during a camping trip last year. I am holding out hope that it will pop up somewhere, but I think it fell off the toboggan somewhere in the woods.

For Christmas last year, my wife got me an aviator style hat with the ear flaps lined with lambs wool. So far I like it, although I can hardly hear a thing when the ear flaps are down, and it's a tad hot when exerting a lot.

Thanks everyone for your responses so far. One question is what is felted wool? Are you roughing the material up after washing it? I may have my wife knit me a merino wool hat if she's up to it. I've rediscovered wool after many years of trying to find something warmer than fleece for around camp. Thanks.

felting

Great topic. Wish I had all my wintercamping pix handy to share. Top hats for me if it's below zero would be the shearling lamb wool tuk i bought up in Haines, AK about 20 years ago and also the rabbit fur mad bomber made by Yukon. My wife also knits so I have a drawer full of hats ranging from thin wool to thick wool to felted wool. On each trip I probably bring around 6 hats for the varying conditions. I just bought these two for kicks. Both warm with cool winter camo, but they probably need temps on the positive side to be comfortable. Can't beat the price!! (Beanie and Radar)

http://www.nativespeciesstore.com/categories/ACCESSORIES/

Found a shot of that lamb wool hat. Serious heat container. SOme of you may like my son's better!

Yellowcanoe,
Do you have a pattern you can share and some pix of your product?

Here's the Yukon hat, do mind the scary looking mannequin.

I made myself two cylinders of polarfleece material, each 12" high and just big enough in circumference to fit around the widest part of my head snugly without being too tight. One is double-layered and the other is a single layer. Both have an elastic cord with an adjustable cord lock in the hem at one end.

Pulling the cord tight makes the tube into a hat; both tube/hats are long enough to fold over so they double up over the ears if need be. Loosening the cord opens the top up a bit to vent if needed. I generally wear a longbilled baseball cap with one or the other layered over it to cover my ears and the back of my neck; if it's getting really cold I'll wear one as a hat and the other as a neck gaiter or pulled up overlapping as a sort of balaclava. With the two together I can close things up to expose just a slit over my eyes. The 'system' as a whole is very flexible over a wide range of temps and still fits under the hood of my anorak for when it's really blowing.

quote awbrown: "I'm pretty much glued to my Stormy Kromer for everyday winter wear. My wife calls it my Elmer Fudd Designer Hat."

+1

Brossa,
YOu have any pictures of your system? Sounds very interesting.

Sobi,
Give me a day or so to look; if not, I'll take some.

-edited to add pics -

Sobi, nice work/ concept. I use a neck gaiter and a Long fleece hat where the end can be doubled or triple folded for the ears.

Brossa-

That is a good looking set up. I like your use of the contrasting color around the front of the hat. Nice touch!

luft-
The color difference is because I used red for one layer and black for the other - the side you turn out determines whether the hat is higher or lower visibility. If you roll the hat 'out' you get the opposite color band.

Reversible is even better! Nice!