I knit this hat while hiking a 550 mile section off the Arizona Trail with my sister in November 2025. (I previously knit a Sockhead Slouch Hat during our first section hike of the AZT back in November 2023.)

We started our hike at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I was going to knit the Grand Canyon Beanie from Nancy Bates’ Knitting the National Parks book for the occasion, but it is not my favorite pattern in the book and it calls for 5 yarn colors which is a bit much to be managing on a long-distance hike. More fitting would be the Saguaro Beanie from the same book. But I settled on a pattern called Alaska by Camille Descoteaux. Despite its name, it is actually very fitting for much of Arizona -- the first half of the section we did is through a large ponderosa pine forest on the Colorado Plateau.

I decided on the pattern very last minute so I had to go with yarn I had on hand. I chose an ombre Knit Picks Chroma yarn to get a sunrise/sunset effect, and a grey fingering (Knit Picks Palette) for the brim and trees. I didn’t realize until we were hiking that the Chroma yarn was worsted weight instead of fingering! I had started the ribbing during the car ride to Arizona and finished the ribbing in our hotel the night before we started hiking, but I didn’t start the actual colorwork chart until the first night in tent. Luckily the weight difference wasn’t a problem; I think it actually worked quite well!

Unfortunately the graphic chart is not mindless knitting, and after 20+ miles of walking most days I was too tired to knit much at camp. I would do 2 or 3 rounds some nights, especially if we got to camp before dark. I did more on nights we stayed in town. Our last two nights on trail I stayed up past 9pm (!!) knitting to finish before the hike ended!

One reason I had to rush was because the connector separated from the cable on my interchangeable needles three weeks into the hike. I was using my Knit Picks “Reflections Lace Set” which uses thin versions of Knit Picks cables which fall apart easily (it has happened to me before). The needles themselves are great, and it is hard to find a good set of interchangeables that includes 2mm and 2.5mm for socks, but the cables are not durable (see all the 1-star reviews on the product page complaining about the same thing). Knit Picks will replace them for free if you call them, which I’ve done once, but it is a hassle.

Luckily we had planned a zero day a week later near Tucson before commencing on the final two nights; my brother-in-law was able to order me a pair of ChiaoGoo fixed circulars and get them to me while we were in town!

I finished the hat with the pompom when I got home. I also had a Grand Canyon National Park patch I got at the gift shop during a previous trip and whipped stitched it to the hat. It’s a little out of place on there, but I’ll leave it on for now.

With the left over yarn I started another little beanie on the way home (see last photo). I had a friend’s 1-year-old in mind, but I don’t really know how big baby’s heads are and it ended up too small.