My first bear

[GhostHawk]

https://hennessyhammock.com/

Comes with its own built in rain fly.

As for getting in and out nothing could be simpler.
One end is velcro'd. Open it up, back into it, sit down, lift your legs, set them slightly on the right and the weight snaps the velcro together locking you in.

Getting up, seperate your feet, dig your heels in a little and seperate, velcro opens. drop your feet through stand up and walk out.

But don't take my word for it. Do some research. They are very comfortable.

I have yet to mess with mine in cool weather. So no underquilts or things like that.

I do have a couple of folding sleeping bag pads that are semi rigid and fairly warm. Combine with a decent bag and I don't think cold would be a problem until you got down near or below freezing. Then some adjustments might have to be made.

I sprung for the snake skins for our 2 just to make it simple to put up and take down. Well worth the money IMO.
Turns a big ungainly lump of hammock and rain fly into 2 nice long smooth "snakes" which are a breeze to coil up and restore to the original stuff sack.

[Tripplebeards]

I keep seeing reasonably priced hammocks at the military surplus store. I might have to give one a test drive. All I know after my last camping trip I can’t sleep directly on the ground anymore. I’m going to definitely need a rain and dew fly.

[DW475]

Congrats on the bear!

[c0wb0y84]

Hammocks are great. They are dry, they are comfortable, and with the right set up are as warm as anything, maybe warmer because you stay dry. Other than the buzzing of mosquitoes, most bugs are a non issue. My entire set up with blanket packs up into about half the space of my big backpack, my wool blanket alone probably weights as much as the hammock, tarp, and underquilt combined. The only draw back is you need to hang them. I'm not sure how one would work out in say, Nebraska. I do have a couple 2x4's I screwed together that can be used to support one side. I tie to one tree, then loop the other sides stap over the 2x4's, and then finally anchor to something like the hitch of my truck. I've only ever had to use that system in places like parking lots for dirt bike races. I've always been able to find 2 trees. Any two trees about 12' to 40' apart, and I'm in business.

I found an Ozark Trail folding hammock stand that works really well when I wanna put my hammock where the trees aint. It's too heavy for packing around on your back but if you're somewhere that you can park your vehicle at your camp then its real convenient. I hadn't really bothered trying to figure out how to work the rainfly with it, usually just put it under one of those 10x10 pop-up canopies, but the bugnet works with it easy enough.

After decades of tent camping I camped the first time in a hammock about 8-9 yrs ago and wondered why anyone ever sleeps on the ground if they don't have too. Warbonnets and ENOs and the like are nice hammocks but I just went to the fabric store and got some 1.9oz ripstop nylon and had the wife sew me up a double layered design that I found on a forum dedicated to such things. Got a light weight nylon tarp, cheap bugnet, and a $20 down blanket from Costco and that has taken care of me. All goes into a compression sack about the size of my lightweight mummy bag.

I was hiking with some friends up in the Pisgah Natl forest and got caught in a torrential downpour one night. I was sleeping like a baby and probably would have never been the wiser had there not been a couple guys in a tent that started hollering when they about got swept away by a creek nearby that flash-flooded. I jumped out of the hammock to find there was water at least knee high rushing under me. That's the night I learned not to put my boots on the ground under me. Had to hike out of the mountains sock footed. That was quite an educational trip.