from popsci.com

MARGHERITA BASSI PUBLISHED SEP 13, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane! No, it’s your hat, ripped off your head by a gust of wind, spiraling off into the unknown. It’s happened to the best of us. The only thing left to do is purchase another one before your face gets sunburnt. Soon, the destiny of your former hat, along with everyone else’s, is far from mind—except for one special team at Yellowstone National Park. 

So far this year, the National Park Service geologists at Yellowstone have recovered over 300 lost hats from hydrothermal areas. Altogether, they estimate the accessories to be worth as much as $6,000. This summer they also collected a pizza box with pizza slices still inside, a fake Louis Vuitton bucket hat, and a ball cap with “I PEE IN THE LAKE” on it.

“When recreating or working in Yellowstone National Park, it’s not uncommon to stumble across a team of National Park Service geologists in distinctive red safety vests. These folks are part of Yellowstone’s Geology Program: a specially trained team dedicated to protecting, remediating, and studying Yellowstone’s incredible geology and hydrothermal features,” Margery Price, a physical science technician at the Yellowstone National Park Geology Program, wrote in a weekly Yellowstone Caldera Chronicle story.

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