Sunday Afternoon Hats (are great).

I embrace my inner trail geek and have worn mine proudly for 9 years now.

Love my Adventure Hat….nothing better on the trail.

Yes, uber dorky, but I am not out there to impress the bears with my trail fashion.

Completely functional for the task…..about Zero style points.

-Tony

Never heard of them, but now that I'm looking at their website, I kind of want one. They look totally hiker-nerd-chic.

Not as much use for hats like that where I am, but I bet if I were to move out of the "green tunnel" for a long time, I might have to get a sweet hat like that.

I am a big fan of the Headsweats hats.

My personal favorite is the Race Hat. It doesn't provide sun protection for the neck but I am usually carrying a small towel anyway, which can serve that purpose when worn under the hat and left draped over the neck in the back (which looks just as dorky, if not more so, than the Sunday Afternoon hats). Plus, it is very light.

They do have the Protech Collection hat which provides full sun protection without the need for a towel to be worn under the hat, but I prefer to use the Race Hat with a towel since it is more versatile.

I've always wanted to try their Elmer Fleece hat for colder weather. It seems like it would work great (and look dorky, of course).

-Sid

The Sunday Afternoons look like a quality hat, but for the best bang for the buck I prefer the Dr. Shade Long Bill Cap. I bought two recently at Sierra Trading Post for about $6.50 apiece (with DealFlyer discount). The tie clasp is junk if it's windy, but there are ways around that. Overall, a nice lightweight hat that provides good protection for face and neck. And if it happens to get lost, not such a big deal as it would be for a more expensive hat.

I need a new hat. I like the field hat style with a brim all the way around. I lost mine last weekend canoeing.

Need to start looking I guess. Light, airy, and adjustable are my requirements. I had this great REI branded one with a little buckle in the back that is now with the river gods.

+1. I have been using their hats for the last six years. One of the few perfect backpacking items for me.

Why is it that hats guys look dorky in, many women look good in? My wife has one of the more decorative versions of this hat and looks cute. I look like a dork. Oh well.

–Mark

"My wife has one of the more decorative versions of this hat and looks cute. I look like a dork."

Are you sure it's the hat? Just sayin'…….

> Are you sure it's the hat? Just sayin'…….

I guess I have embraced by inner geek so I don't worry about it. If fact, I sometimes make it worse by wearing a light weight watch cap under the Sunday afternoon hat as the weather cools off. That said, there is some serious dorkiness in the hat. I have yet to see any male who didn't look like a dork in a sunday afternoon hat. Some of these guys don't naturally look like dorks.

–Mark

I really like my hat from them but I think I am going to switch over to Joe from Zpacks conical straw type hat. It is waterproof and I think will offer me better protection. $30 in silnylon and $40 in cuben. Probably about the only hting I will ever be able to afford in cuben.

As a note, the first hat I had from them had the velcro grabbing on to everything including the hat and starting to worry it in under a year. They gave me a lot of grief on the phone about replacing it.

Sunday Afternoon Hats

Ben.
HTML Man (and Gear Enabler).

My go-to hat for ~20 years, military boonie hat/jungle hat. Full, short, floppy brim. Works great in sun and rain. Stays on well. Tough. It's the only piece of gear I own that has never changed.

http://www.armynavydeals.com/asp/products_details.asp?SKU=5817&ST=2&Military%20Boonie%20Hats%20%28Cotton%20Rip-Stop%29

Brad — it's cotton!!! The horror.

Oops! I meant this one… poly, um, cotton blend. But it's been truly perfect, even in the wet. Who'd a thunk it?!

http://www.armynavydeals.com/asp/products_details.asp?SKU=5533&ST=2&Gov%27t%20US%20Military%20Boonie%20Hats%20%28Poly/Cotton%29

On the rivers, in the summer, I sometimes wear a hat with a big neck cape, or I wear a regular boonie style hat. There's no way to scientifically measure this, but out of hundreds of people encountered, I tend to think people are friendlier to me in the boonie style hat. I can say that it is a more positive experience to not wear the dorky looking neck-caped hat. Now, bear in mind that most of these river people are casual recreationalists (aka river dorks) and not regular paddlers. Should I look like a dork and protect my neck from sun damage, or just let the redneck river dorks look at me strangely?

Get a Lochsa River hat from Orvis. Rednecks think they're cool, protects your neck. Love mine, just wish the wind didn't blow 20 MPH about 320 days out of the year. I could care less about fashion, but I'm not doing the Montesorri pre-school hat.

I wore the Sunday on a trip to the S.W. this summer and I swear when i put it on, it felt 10 degrees cooler outside. When the sun's overhead it practically shades my whole body. People give me s**t about the looks …. I have no issues w/ my masculinity like they do. I LOVE this hat.

I normally just use mine to work in the yard but after a bout with skin cancer this fall – it's with me on my hiking trips. Great hat….

Another Sunday Afternoons Adventure Hat fan here, too. I don't care how stupid I look in it–being short and stout, more like a mushroom than anything else. You'll never see me on the trail without it!

That is one goofy looking hat but its not as bad as the Kavu Chillba. Regardless, I am not going to make fun of anybody on the trail unless its a couple wearing matching seafoam green, neon pink and gold windbreaker suits.

I like my wool felt fedora I got from Bass Pro Shops for $30. Classic looking, crushable, breathes better than cotton or nylon and has kept my head completely dry in some real heavy downpours. It probably weighs about as much as my usgi boonie.

Joseph

An Akubra hat was my hiking and in-town hat for years, until I left it in a restaurant. It looked a lot like Indiana Jones' hat.

These days, I've settled on a Tilley LTM6. Big brim, stays on in the wind, and ventilates almost well enough. Plus, you can wash it after you develop a nice sweat/dust line around the sweatband after a week on the trail.

Tilley now makes one with a neck protector curtain, if you like those (the LTM6C).