I understand what you're saying... I was trying to say much the same things, but for the sake of not rewriting the complete posting history of hammock forums I wrote a lot of it right out again.

The famed hammock learning curve comes from the fact that it's easier to slap-dash a tent than it is a hammock. I see tents all the time that are practically falling over, because they're not tightened down properly or even staked out. Tarp tents are less forgiving than freestanding in this, and I've seen some sagging Contrails, too. But as long as the tent is standing and it's not pouring rain or blowing wind, the tent will "work right" - it stays standing around you. Hammocks take finessing from the get-go -- being able to tell the difference between a properly hung hammock and one where the head end is too high takes practice. I had a few miserable nights in the Hennessy where I jumped in and out a number of times that led me to conclude the bottom entry wasn't ideal for me. Then I learned how to select trees that didn't sag, and how not to hook the HH tarp on the suspension lines....

On the other hand! I loaned the Hennessy to someone after I got the Blackbird. She knew nothing about hammocking properly and had a great time with it, hanging it like a chair swing, watching the sun set while swinging , getting it all cockeyed and hung so the ridgeline sagged like crazy -- she loved it anyway. I was a little concerned she might rip the bugnetting but it survived just fine. So maybe we all just think too much about this?

On the lightness of it all... five pounds for two quilts, hammock, tarp and assorted guy lines is not bad. It's actually not as light as it could be - I could get a 3/4 length underquilt. I could do a foam pad instead. I could use my silk hammock without the shelf and full bugnet. But either way works to 20F in 3 1/2 seasons in high elevation Sierras.... Maybe an ultra-ultralighter flinches and says no way. But he can prolly make do with the seven ounce hammock instead, and sacrifice a little ease of use to go twenty ounces lighter than me. He'd probably also use the good ol' 7 oz CCF instead of a 12 oz underquilt. And maybe he doesn't want to take it in winter - so he hauls out the Megamid instead, gaining some weight as winter packers always do, but again. It's what you are willing to do to be safe and/or comfortable. You can hammock as light as you want to go, really. If you want to go with a tiny tarp and a hammock made of cuben, you'll sweat up a storm and get a little rain in the sides, but you'll be light.... Not my compromise to make.

When I was tenting the "flat" places I kept finding turned out too often to not be. For some reason I have less difficulty getting the hammock at the right angle. And the cleanliness of hammock vs. getting everything all over the ground suits me better. When you say there's nowhere to unload gear, I don't really get that - dump it in the tent, dump it in the hammock, it all gets sorted just the same. Stuff hangs from the top of the tent or the ridgeline, just the same. Clothes go wherever - your stuff sack pillow, in the shelf of the Blackbird, under your knees...

I've been hanging all over California for a while now... have yet to find a place I can't. There have been times I've gone to ground because I was forced to out of expediency - you don't always get to hang when you car camp, for example, because you have an assigned site that may or may not have trees within its boundaries. I'd think Yosemite with all its crazy regulations would have a few words about the hammock, but I'm not the only one hanging out there.... about the only place I'd get ousted would be in the Sequoias and you just can't hang from them anyway. Of course, as always, YMMV. I'm aware of places that ban hammocks, elsewhere, because they ban pretty much anything people have done to wreck trees.
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