Going to ground

[ringtail-THFKAfood]

Your shelter should not be your primary insect protection. A head net is light, cheap and has no health concerns. Bugs are not a problem when the temperature goes below 50.

Some parts of the AT require you to use shelters. In bad weather you might want to use a shelter. The NeoAir would be comfortable in a shelter and is not a major penalty at 8.7 oz.

Pack to create the experience you want, but the "what ifs" add weight to your pack.

[EdD270]

When DW and family go on camping trip with me, we put up BIG tent(s) and cots, and so on. Hammock is reserved for my solo campouts. We got so much invested in tent camping, cots, mattresses, etc. that I can only afford one hammock.

[OutandBack]

Pack to create the experience you want, but the "what ifs" add weight to your pack.

Not sure why, but these words really hit home with me.
If what I'm packing adds to my enjoyment I never think about the weight.
If going to ground would allow me to enjoy the trip even more I would have no issues bringing the few extras it would take to do that.

[Midday-Moon]

I think the best way to deal with those kind of what if thoughts is learning how to make a shelter out of the materials around you. Only as a last resort of course. Skills don't weigh anything and can set your mind at ease. Just my $0.02

[MAD777]

The only thing of mine going to ground is the bottom of my shoes But I must say to Darby that the Switchback (which I own) looks natural as a bivy and a polycro sheet (window reflective film) doesn't weigh but a couple of ounces. Along with a wide neo-air pad, I'd say thats your best answer.

[Fish<><]

Note: This only applies if trees are around and I had a failure of my primary system. If I were knowingly camping in an area void of trees, I would take a tent.

IF, and I emphasize IF, I ever have to go to ground due to equip failure, it would be a miserable night regardless. So when camping, I always carry my eno bugnet (might make a fronkey net soon to save weight), my tarp(obviously) and an emergency blanket/tarp. If I had to go to ground, my bugnet would be strung up by sticks over some fallen leaves, pine needles or grasses that I had collected for ground insulation. My space blanket would go on the "floor" of my bugnet for radiant heat, then my tarp would go over that.

I would rather take the chance of getting "closer to nature"(as the groundies call it) and sleep on leaves before I will carry a pad with me again hammocking (too bulky). As far as packweight is concerned, there is no better insulation than leaves collected from the forest floor.

Water runoff would be a concern in the worst condition, but proper site planning could mean the difference in being wet or dry. I might have to relocate camp in the event of a hammock failure, but its better than dying of hypothermia.

[titanium_hiker]

Are you a tent sleeper or a tarp sleeper? (I know, I know, "pshaw, I'm a hammock sleeper") But what I mean is: do you need walls between you and the great outdoors to be comfy enough to sleep? (This is something that is deeply personal, and there is no wrong or right answer.) Some people like being able to zip themselves into a hammock, or have large tarps that just about touch the ground. Others are ok with sleeping with just a tarp over them to stay dry.

What you need: A tarp to stay dry. You already carry this.
A way to stay dry underneath: a ground sheet of some sort. Only needs to be as big as you are. I am experimenting with a plastic drop cloth as a undershield for the hammock to do double duty as a go to ground ground sheet. This is all you NEED - a way to be dry, for safety. Now let's look at comfort.

A way to keep the tarp up. For me, this is trekking poles. (photos of my hex shaped tarp in ground mode here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/3234372...7623803212244/ )

A way to keep bugs off. This might be separate or included in the hammock.

Ground insulation. Now, if you use a pad in your hammock, you're good to go. If you use a quilt, perhaps you carry a foot pad? A sit pad? I have decided that for my hiking, I can afford to carry a piece of close cell foam that is big enough to go from just below my hips (ie, my butt) and up to my shoulders. I rounded the edges so it's only as big as it needs to be. I'll stick my pack under my legs. of course, this isn't that brilliantly comfy, but if you want to go to ground it will do.

So, to go to ground, to I end up carrying anything extra? Tarp- already use it for the hammock, ditto the net, ditto the weathershield, ditto the trekking poles, the pad is the only foreign thing, and it can be justified as a sit pad, emergency hammock extra insulation, pack frame, 'door mat', etc.

TH

[bear bag hanger]

Titanium_hiker has the way and I concur with everything he/she said. The reasons you have to go to ground are no trees and regulations against hanging from the available trees. Usually, just hiking a mile or two more will get you to a place with trees, but doesn't always work if your with a group. During my 2004 AT thru hike, I only had to go to ground once, but did experiment with it a couple times to see if I could do it. Biggest problem I had was with dew as a result of high humidity. In most of my other hikes, regulation often gets in the way of hanging. It's nice of some people to say they just won't follow the rules, but I've been told more than once to take down my hammock by law enforcement, so it's not usually an option to hang for that night.

As far as wet ground, etc., this is the same problem tent people have. You just have to try and find a dry spot.

[Meat Hunter]

Give an example of the conditions that would force you to the ground.

If I drink too much and pass out, that might force me to the ground

[Bitts]

Over the Years, many of those being 100-150 nights in the back country. I've backpacked 1,000's of miles with a tent in the pack. Out side of monsoon season, or predicted blizzards. I can count the number of times I've needed to set it up due to an actual weather based need on one hand. Every time other than those a tarp has been enough. 90% of the time it was just my blue pad & sleeping bag on the ground starring at the stars. I'd say carry a 3/4 blue pad/ridgerest, use a synthetic top quilt or sleeping bag with a good dwr & a down underquilt. Everything else you need is already in the pack. Personally the difference between hammock camping & backpacking is whether I take a hammock.