Previously, we had spent a 3 day weekend in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The weather was decent, and we slept in hammocks with nothing but bug nets. It was very comfortable, and I slept better than I'd ever slept in the outdoors in a tent. That was the first time I'd ever slept in one.

This weekend, we went to the cabin my girlfriend's family has about an hour and a half from Duluth. I, of course, took my hammock gear. I found two trees just right for my purposes, and had the hammock up in about 10 minutes. I knew it was going to rain and be rather windy this weekend, so I hung a tarp as well. With nothing but a tarp to keep the wind and rain off of me, and a hand-me-down sleeping bag, I slept like a dream, even in 45°F weather.

At one point, the hammock was swaying gently back and forth because the wind was blowing so hard through the trees, but it was still a VERY relaxing weekend.

I'll never camp on the ground again. Ever.

One question, however, came to mind during this outing. How far above the hammock should the ridgeline be for the tarp? I felt a bit closed in, but that might have been from having the edges of the tarp secured so close to the sides of the hammock, and I was unable to stand up (I'm 6'2 and some change) under the tarp where I had it setup?? Also, it was a square-ish (10x8) tarp. Is it best to hang it as a square, or as a diamond? I went square because it seemed like the rain would have gotten in had I hung it as a diamond.

My current setup is:
ENO double nest modded with whoopie slings instead of the carabiner system it came with.
Whoopieslings.com Single Line Tarp Ridge Line
ENO bug net (didn't use this outing)
1" cargo straps converted to "slap straps", using a marlin spike hitch w/ aluminium toggles.

The tarp I had was just a standard, blue, cheap wal-mart type tarp. I'll be getting a real tarp soon. Debating on a hex vs square at the moment.