Gear-Hammock

Nothing against sleeping on the ground in a tent (I do have one in my gear cache) but ever since seeing a buddy camp in a hammock, I grabbed one for myself and have not looked back. My hammock of choice is the ENO Doublenest. Sturdy, durable and well made...I would recommend this brand to anyone.

                                           

Straps on the left and hammock on the right. As you can see, they pack down very small. Both will fit in one of the side pockets on my pack with room to spare. I selected the Doublenest because I need the extra space and these are made for two and rated up to 400 lbs. There is some extra material but I've found that this makes for a good cover if there is a light source nearby and it does keep heat inside the hammock. Setup is lightning quick: sling the straps around two nearby trees, clip the hammock carabiners in and you are done. 

Straps outside their stuff sack. There are a couple options here, I just have the regular straps and have never had an issue. The "Pro" straps are longer and a hair more expensive.

Here is the hammock opened up. The stuff/compression sack is attached and doubles as a stash pocket for your cell, glasses, smokes, etc. In my case, it also provides enough weight to keep the extra material over the other side of the hammock giving a good wrap-around cocoon effect.

The carabiners make it nearly brainless to set up. They also provide an anchor point for ENO accessories like the bug net and rain-fly. I don't own either of them but have used both. The net is a bit much for me, kind of took the outdoor-ness out of being outdoors. The rain fly was great the one time I got rained on, set up fast which was way important and kept me dry despite the fact that I didn't stake it into the ground and just let it hang down. I'm not sure it is worth the price, you might get the same results from a decent tarp and some rope. I've also used the clips to hang other stuff off of like a battery powered lantern and a six pack.

Obligatory action shot.