Great Sand DunesNational Park Hat
Coming SoonDetails
- Embroidered panoramic design
- Adjustable snapback hat
- Structured mid-profile 5 panel
- Cotton, handwash
- Free shipping, free returns
- 100% of profits donated to National Parks
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Our Mission
I'm Ian - from Seattle, and at Rainier Hat Co. we're dedicated to giving back to the places that inspire us every day. From the glaciers of Mount Rainier to the grand prismatic springs of Yellowstone, our national parks are treasures that deserve our support.
That's why we've made a commitment that goes beyond the norm: donating all our profits to these natural sanctuaries. It's not just about creating high-quality (and awesome) hats inspired by the beauty of the outdoors, it's about contributing to the preservation of these areas for future generations to enjoy.
Design Inspiration
This design was inspired by late afternoon at Medano Creek, where the water moves in shallow pulses across a wide sandy bed and sinks into the base of the dune field before it can travel much farther. The sun angles in from the west and throws long shadows across the dune faces, making the slip faces and windward slopes easier to read as distinct landforms against the flat valley floor. Star Dune rises to roughly 750 feet above the surrounding field while the Sangre de Cristo range stretches behind it, its upper peaks holding snowpack well into early summer.
On the sagebrush flat between the creek and the range, two pronghorn gallop through the scrub while a third grazes further out in the open. Pronghorn depend on speed and open sightlines for safety and the broad San Luis Valley gives them both in nearly every direction. The valley floor sits around 7,500 feet and the air carries a dry clarity that keeps the view sharp across the creek to the dunes, where the sand surface continues to radiate heat long after the sun drops behind the peaks.
Design Process
Creating these National Park hats with their panoramic embroidery is a detailed process going beyond simply buying and reselling bulk designs.
The first step is a deep dive into what makes each park unique. From the Bison of Yellowstone and the Roseated Spoonbills of the Everglades to the panoramic views of Angels Landing in Zion, our goal is to highlight the beauty of each park. We try to find a specific viewpoint in the park to show off and what we need to do to capture the feeling of being there. While sometimes we ad-lib a bit of the design to include other elements to capture the feeling of the park as a whole, we try hard to find an actual place in the park you can visit even giving you an exact Google maps QR code with every hat.
Then we get to designing! Embroidery is naturally limited in colors and we use a 15 color (the most you'll find) edgeless embroidery process which takes upwards of 90 minutes and over 60,000 stitches per hat, but allows us to show off every detail from that epic mountain range to the colorful flowers in your favorite park.
Finally the design get digitized for embroidery, a sample is made for any final tweaks, and we go to production getting these fantastic hats on your heads.
And 100% of our profits are donated right back to our National Parks .
Visit the Inspiration
Great Sand Dunes National Park is located in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, about 3 hours south of Denver. Take US 160 west from Walsenburg then north on CO 150 to reach the park entrance, and stop at the visitor center before heading out to the dunes.
The main parking lot sits close to Medano Creek, which flows along the base of the dune field during snowmelt season. A short walk from the lot brings you to the creek crossing, where the water runs wide and shallow in late spring. Later in summer or in dry years the creek can slow considerably or stop flowing altogether.
Medano Creek is known for its surge flow, a wave pattern caused by sand dams that build and release along the creek bed. These pulses roll through roughly every 30 seconds and are most pronounced in May and June. Once across the creek you have a clear view of Star Dune rising against the Sangre de Cristo range.
Pronghorn move through the sagebrush flats on the eastern side of the creek, and early morning or evening visits increase the odds of a sighting. Summer afternoons bring intense heat to the dune surface, where sand temperatures can exceed 150°F in direct sun. Footwear is important for both the creek crossing and for any hiking on the dunes themselves.
Great Sand Dunes: Medano Creek
Where snowmelt meets sand and a seasonal creek runs across the base of the tallest dunes in North America.
Read the Guide