Cooped up is how I feel in a tent. With my 10x12 caternary tarp and hammock, I can stand up, change, sit down, lay down, prop up one corner of the tarp and cook, close the ends to keep out the wind or the boy scouts, and dangle my stuff from the hammock rope under the ends of the tarp or lay it out right underneath me. I can pitch the tarp on the longer side or the shorter side to make it taller so I can stand and make it a tent, or give more coverage if it rains. I can suspend my stuff in a gear hammock next to the bottom entry of my Hennessy. I can shove aside the bugnet and lounge in the open air. I'm claustrophobic with gimp knee and one night in the hennessy converted me - I didn't stumble and fall on my face taking a whizz at 3 am because I'm barely awake and can't get my legs under me; I just poke my legs out and shove the hammock off. My boots sit on the ground under the slit. I can dry my socks under the tarp, hook up the headlamp and read, sleep flat and wake up with hips that don't ache. I had my hammock pitched over a flat spot because it was the first time, but now that I am more confident of the knots I could pitch this over rocks, shrubs, or on a hill. I used a combination of stakes, rocks and trees to tie out tarp and hammock. I would have had a hard time with the tent because you stake down a tent, and the ground was such that my MSR groundhogs were coming loose.

I can't do but a few of those things in the dome tent I have, and it's a 2 person. I can't cook (actually just boil water) under it, can't stand up, can't really get comfortable without carrying a second pad - my hip is the pressure point - can't sit comfortably and read without a back rest, and in the morning when it's cold the getup-and-go seems frozen stiff and not wanting to crawl out of the tent. I could easily see myself in the hammock in a light rain, with the tarp pitched open on one side and staked down on the other against the wind with just enough coverage to keep off the wet, using the hammock for a chair/lounger and reading. Closing the tarp if it started to pour would be a matter of moving a couple of stakes on each end. In my tent with the fly on, I would feel trapped - no windows, small space, and no way to get some hot tea.

I don't meant to sound like an advertisement or something, but you can chalk this documentary up to enthusiasm that follows skepticism. I didn't know if I would like the hammock; I thought it would be like sleeping in a narrow tube. I wasn't prepared for how well I took to it or how flexible I could be in where to put it. If I can get longer straps for the bigger trees here, it will be no big deal and I will make the tenters jealous as they are pitching in the duff and discovering Yet Another Pointy Rock.