Thanks pj for your thoughts. Yeah, simplicity is one of the big ones for me. I have come to dislike the time it takes to set up and tear down camp. To me it distracts from the wilderness experience. Some people like it, but I figure I fiddled enough with all my gear getting it packed and organized, I want to get to the wilderness to relax!
You'd be surprised how often I have been unable to find a suitable camping site in the west! Sure, there are plenty of designated sites, but they are often compacted and dusty (or muddy). If I want to 'stealth camp' Ray Jardine style a tarp and bivy is often my only choice below treeline. But here in the Northwest we get quite a bit more ground foliage than in the Sierras and Rockys.
I am hoping that by leaving the bivy open to my waist most of the time it will alleviate most of the condensation buildup resulting from the wp/b fabric. It may be, though, that I need a full sized tarp to help with that (it seems anything open to the night sky gets covered in dew around here, which probably worsens inner condensation). Only way to know for sure is to test…
