Tent or Tarp & Hammock for the CT?

[BigRingRider101]

There's a group of five of us planning a Colorado Trail trip for mid July. I'm still undecided on this matter.

Tarp n hammock is a lighter and quicker set up more comfortable too. My only concern is... the doubt if I'll always find two trees to hang it.

[Lentamentalisk]

If there are 5 of you, I'm pretty darn certain a 5 person tarp/tent will be much lighter than a hammock, not to mention more social. Plus the chance of finding 10 perfect trees seems lower than the chance of finding one wide open area. But like you mentioned, those chances are very much dependent on location. I don't know the CT environment at all.

[brassnipples]

I'm taking a first run at the CT this year too (mid July too, maybe we'll bump into each other) and was on the fence between hammock and tent but have settled on tent. I prefer a hammock and in my experience setting one up is nice and fast in the right conditions but quickly gets tedious if when the situation isn't ideal (trees too close, too far, too big, too small), having to deal with that when exhausted/wet/cold could be really frustrating.  On top of that it seems like you'd want to have a sleeping pad still in case you had to go to ground or for warmth which nullifies part of the weight and bulk savings benefits of a hammock.

But my main concern was the inevitable nights above treeline and the time it takes me to futz around to get a tarp setup properly when there aren't trees around, it just doesn't seem worth it vs simplicity of plopping a tent down.

[THE LONG RANGER]

You could probably swing it with careful planning, but even below treeline, I've woken up from camping on the CT and realized I was bivvied right under a tree that was dead from pine beetles. There's tons of dispersed camping on the CTR. You're right as well, once you're in the San Juans, a good portion of the trail is above treeline, and camping in that setting is really a treat (careful of the tundra of course) . 

[offroute]

Hey Berni : )

Some good advice and thoughts here.

A tent will afford you very many more bivy options. My pick would be one-person tent, thinking that a large space for a multi-person tent will limit bivy options compared to dispersing your team a little. If on a more relaxed pace it doesn't matter so much, but it does if you want to milk every day and throw down in more spontaneous spots.

Free-standing tents (or ones that can be used free-standing) are my pick – either a coffin-sized tent with at least head/shoulders pole/support, or one you can sit up in. I just picked up a Nemo Hornet 1P and am pretty psyched, but I want to be able to take rest days/hours comfortably in it (and perhaps heat water in the vestibule if raining). On the CT and other rides I've used a Black Diamond Bipod bivy. Maybe not the lightest of that style, but it worked fantastically. Shoving your helmet down into the foot will give some loft down there and keep the feet warmer.

Cheers, buddy.

Mike

[bakerjw]

For bikepacking this summer here in the Appalachians, I plan on doing some hammock camping (as long as there is bug netting). I'm out here in the mountains a lot and know that there are always trees around. For other trips, it'll be a tent all the way. Nothing makes for a more miserable outing that lack of sleep.
Just my 2 cents.

I wanted a Tarptent Moment DW (42 oz with extra free standing pole), but saved $200.00 by going with a Eureka Midori Solo(58 oz). It weights a bit more, but is self standing and gives a fair amount of room to move around on the inside.

[BigRingRider101]

Thanks for taking the time and respond on this guys.

It's five of us but each one will be carrying his own equip. In fact I'm the only one even considering the hammock. 1 will be in a bivy and 3 in tents.
We're allowing 3 weeks total, 3 weeks off work that is. I think that's enough time to do it at a leisure pace.

This kind of advise is what I needed. I'll upgrade my tent and go with it. My old tent is a REI Quarter Dome1. I think it comes close to 3 pounds.

BrassNipples I did see that you're doing this trip. We don't have a date set yet. Hopefully we can meet somewhere 2 miles up.

Hey Mike.