Daybreak makes a good point about when it's raining on the AT that you can stop at a shelter for a break. I'd say a majority of the time I have spent on the AT I have used a tarp but it is actually rare that I will stop and set it up for midday use. Most times if it's pouring I will make for a shelter for lunch or a long break. (Beware though , it can be a time trap!) Roughly, a tarp and a tent can be set up in the same amount of time. My tarp is more spacious except perhaps with smaller tarps your dry footprint can approach that of a small tent. For me, once my shelter is up, tent or tarp, the only period of real wet is getting out of wet hiking clothes and into dry camp clothes. At that point, if I need to be outside of my shelter, I have full raingear. My tents all have vestibules (except my pyramid tent) so as soon as shelter is up, pack is stowed with space to work outside the drier inside. With a tarp, I just cook under the tarp and with a tent, if need be, in the vestibule with the door open but I also will just cook in the rain. Mostly just heating water for dehydrated food anyway but the rain doesn't bother me much. Rain is part of nature. I do much prefer the tarp in camp vs the tent so it is nice to have!