MustardMan, I'd be very interested in seeing your loadout.
This isn't a comprehensive list, but should shed some light into typical gear weights for a summer trip. The two biggest and easiest places to cut weight on this list would be the hammock and insulation - I'm using a cadillac of hammocks, with double layers, bug netting, and easy to set up but heavy webbing suspension. I could cut nearly a pound by going with an ultralight hammock. I'm also using a 3/4 length underquilt that coult take me at least down to freezing at night, and a 40 degree synthetic bag, because I haven't gotten around to getting a summer weight down bag. Using a foam pad for under insulation, a lighter hammock, and a better bag, I could probably cut 1.5+ pounds.
My best advice for cutting your pack weight is to make an excel spreadsheet, and really weigh out every piece of gear you have. You'd be surprised what you can cut by choosing your gear carefully, or replacing older heavier items with newer ones. For example, I used to carry an REI ridgeline 65 backpack exclusively, and still carry it when weight isn't a concern. It weights almost 5 pounds. By comparison, a six moons designs Comet weighs 1.8 pounds.
So here's a typical pack content base weight. Biggest knife in this list is a SAK in the ditty bag
Forgive the "yes" on each line - I'm using a simple excel formula to interactively calculate total base weight, depending on which items I select or deselect, and I'm too lazy to go through and delete them all. Weights are given in grams first, then ounces.
Speer 8x10 Tarp yes 440 15.52
Stake Bag yes 6 0.21
Stove kit (trangia burner, clikstand, 900ml evernew titanium pot) yes 479 16.90
Brunton Al Fuel Canister (full) yes 496 17.50
Orikaso Solo full dish set yes 204 7.20
Black Diamond Orbit Lantern yes 129 4.55
Marmot Pounder M Sleeping Bag yes 685 24.16
Warbonnet Blackbird Hammock with webbing suspension, carabiners, and bishop bag yes 1026 36.19
REI Lite Core 1.5 Sit Pad yes 123 4.34
Toiletries yes 118 4.16
Pack Towel yes 82 2.89
Black Diamond headlamp yes 82 2.89
Hangnout Underquilt - head end yes 343 12.10
Six moon Designs Comet pack yes 822 29.00
Ditty bag* yes 170 6.00
First Aid kit* yes 170 6.00
Total base weight: 5375 grams, 189.6 ounces.
That's 11.85 pounds base weight for essentials in the pack. That gives me another 13 pounds for food, water, clothing, and possibly a knife, and I'm still under 25 pounds total skin out weight, including what's on my body and not in the pack. And I'm far from hardcore on this stuff - I could cut a lot of weight if I was willing to sacrifice some comfort. Things like the BD orbit lamp are purely for convenience, and I could leave that at home. Also realize that there's some gear splitting here, so I'm actually carrying the cook kit for both my fiance and me, but she carries a small kitchen kit with a few extra methods of fire creation beyond the small firesteel in my ditty bag.
Hope that helps - I didn't get a chance to weigh out stuff like spare clothing bags or typical food weight, but you get the general idea. If you can find water along the way, that's the single biggest help. Luckily I live in the southeast where it's so humid I can actually absorb most of my water directly from the air through osmosis, so I don't have to carry 10 pounds of water everywhere I go
