Bivy Sack/bag?

[Dogwood]

Spent my first night on the Cumberland Trail with the tarp and bug bivy. Not too bad. Except I didn't stake the bivy, rolled around, and ended with it all skewed and twisted. Finding the zipper pull/escape hatch was a lesson in panic control. All in all, fairly successful but needs some work.

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Have you ordered a bivy large enough to put the pad inside to keep the bivy from tangling? I can think of no one who I've observed who routinely tosses and turns all night long as I do and I do not have issue with finding the side 1/3 zip on a TG Ptarmagin or various MLD bivies. Indeed, zippering fully up in an enclosed bivy can lead to a panic attack if one is not accustomed to a more confining space than most tents and is a similar experience as becoming accustomed to sleeping in a mummy bag when changing from a rectangular bag. As with all things find what works for you in different situations. Perhaps, you shouldn't attempt to make one shelter/sleep system set up be your only approach? Make a bivy something you employ as an option of several shelters/sleep systems. For all my positive recs regarding my own use a bivy isn't something I employ all the time. If pairing a bivy with a tarp there is no/less need to fully zip it up leaving less of a confining experience quite similar, as others, have said, to sleeping in a mummy or semi rectangular sleeping bag.

[Traffic Jam]

Have you ordered a bivy large enough to put the pad inside to keep the bivy from tangling? I can think of no one who I've observed who routinely tosses and turns all night long as I do and I do not have issue with finding the side 1/3 zip on a TG Ptarmagin or various MLD bivies. Indeed, zippering fully up in an enclosed bivy can lead to a panic attack if one is not accustomed to a more confining space than most tents and is a similar experience as becoming accustomed to sleeping in a mummy bag when changing from a rectangular bag. As with all things find what works for you in different situations. Perhaps, you shouldn't attempt to make one shelter/sleep system set up be your only approach? Make a bivy something you employ as an option of several shelters/sleep systems. For all my positive recs regarding my own use a bivy isn't something I employ all the time. If pairing a bivy with a tarp there is no/less need to fully zip it up leaving less of a confining experience quite similar, as others, have said, to sleeping in a mummy or semi rectangular sleeping bag.

There is some confusion and it's my fault for hijaking this thread and changing the subject. My bivy is a bugnet bivy from MLD, not the type of bivy to which the OP refers.

The bugnet bivy is plenty big and became twisted because I did not adequately hang the net off my face or stake it down.

I agree that you shouldn't have one approach to sheltering. I have relied on shelters, used a free-standing tent, used a tarp tent, attempted hammocking (consistently use it on day trips to the local parks) and wanted to try something new. My ultimate goal is to cowboy camp but one step at a time.

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[MuddyWaters]

There is some confusion and it's my fault for hijaking this thread and changing the subject. My bivy is a bugnet bivy from MLD, not the type of bivy to which the OP refers.

The bugnet bivy is plenty big and became twisted because I did not adequately hang the net off my face or stake it down.

I agree that you shouldn't have one approach to sheltering. I have relied on shelters, used a free-standing tent, used a tarp tent, attempted hammocking (consistently use it on day trips to the local parks) and wanted to try something new. My ultimate goal is to cowboy camp but one step at a time.

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Cowboy up in your back yard
After being soaking wet with dew a few times, you might change yur mind

Good under right conditions, cool dry
Bad under wrong...like warmer time o yr