Before we split hairs, what I do is more camping than backpacking, most of the time. When I camp, and bring my big pack, it's because we're either hiking in (usually no more than 15 miles) to a campsite, where we set up basecamp and day hike from there, or canoe in to set up camp.
My big pack usually weighs in at 65-70 pounds. Inside it is my hiking bag, which actually contains most of the tools/survival gear. The rest of the pack is taken up by additional shelter (0 degree sleeping bag if winter, tent, etc), a LOT of it is extra food, usually some cast iron cookware, etc. It's for luxry at basecamp, not for trying to spend my vacation running myself into the ground trying to cover a lot of miles.
Y'all mentioned dogs. My dog is apparently bigger than the others, as he can easily carry more than a mere 6 Guiness (heck, he'd have them drunk down before we got to camp), I have him carry in his harness 5 pounds of food, 2 collapsable bowls (one for food, one for water), a few bags of real beef jerky (not those Beggin Strips things) and his favorite blanket.
With the weight of clothes, sleeping bag, and a host of odds and ends attached to my butt here and there, I would say my ALICE pack probably weighs in around... 40 pounds (including my butt-pack and pistol belt). I plan to go off the grid near October (and I mean for real... squatting and living like a hobo real), so I will be carrying everything I feel I may survive for the rest of my life on. If my clothes become shoddy, I will either try to buy new ones, or depending on how far into the bush I am (and if I don't end up being arrested by some rangers) I will wear animal skins.
I went through a rough time in my life, and decided that instead of hanging myself, I'd just disappear, and did the hobo thing. Some advice on getting by: bring a set of "respectable" clothes. Can be jeans and a polo shirt, Carhartts, or something. Carry a hygeine kit (this is one of the most important pieces of kit you need to have. I'd bathe and shave before going into town, and wear the good set of clothes. You get an entirely different reception if you're clean and smell nice. I'd go into town to buy stuff I needed, or to get money. I either went to day labor places, or I'd get a temp job for a week or two. When I had enough money, or got sick of the place, I moved on. Also having a picture ID and a VISA Checkcard were great, because I could get by without being picked up as a vagrant, by explaining that I wasn't a bum, I was one of those nature boys that wants to hike cross-country from X to Y (wherever it'd be logical to cross through that point). So they let me go as one of those stupid "neo hippies". I know you want to be off the grid, but consider those camoflage, you don't have to USE them (but they need to not have expired).
