Why am I taking a hammock?

 As i've said before, I'm taking a hammock.
But why?

There are a few reasons.  Firstly, the floor is dirty.  It can also be wet.  Worst of all it can be both.  I'll be hiking for, hopefully, several months through wind and rain.  The ground will, at times, be absolutely horrible; it might be difficult to set a tent up or the tent itself might get washed out or soaked even with a waterproof bottom.  Instead I'll comfortably hang above the dirty, wet, muddy floor.  This also means I don't have to worry about finding a flat spot devoid of rocks and roots, that I'd otherwise hunt for to lay down on.  Instead I just need any two trees the right distance apart and I'll be in a frikking huge wood.  There's a lot of trees.  I'll actually have an easier time setting up my hammock than I will a tent.

There are some drawbacks though....
Weight is maybe one of them, maybe not.  We'll discuss that later on.  The drawbacks I will mention right now though are it can be more expensive or harder to get warm.  Instead of a rollmat and thermarest, plus a sleeping bag, I'll be taking two very expensive (very fluffy) down quilts.  One goes over and one goes under.

So this is a rather unconventional approach to camping but it isn't unknown anymore!  And with the some great hammock resources online (like Hammockforums and the hammock subreddits), and on youtube (looking at you, Shug); there's a lot of help in working out how to tackle this less conventional camping.

One last issue is that some people don't like the lack of structure.  Not counting my tarp, I won't have walls.  Even with my tarp, there's a lot to flap around in the wind unless I really cinch everything in tight.  Subjectively some people might feel a little less secure in a hammock set-up.

What's about the ground though?
The ground is the default for a reason.  It's the traditional method of camping and there are tonnes of options for everything you need on the ground.  Subjectively it can feel more structurally sound and that can be beneficial for peace of mind.  I'm not too much of a fan of this for my hike, as it does give me fewer options on where I could camp but it won't be hard to pick up a tent whilst I'm out there if I were to change my mind.

But let's talk about weight. 
Ground systems are lighter.  But....  These very light ground options might be sacrificing a lot.  They're often thin, maybe missing walls, require hiking poles to use, and so on.  Some of the lightest options are barely recognisable as tents.  My tent is heavier than my hammock; but mine isn't the lightest of tents, though my hammock isn't the lightest either.  For me, the extra weight reduction from the ground systems isn't worth it compared to the benefits of being in the air.