miniMe- I have been casually researching "*light" backpacking for a while. One of these days I hope to actually put it into practice.

I would refer you to tarptent as a good start on lightweight shelters. Start with the "projects" section, which has some good introductory material. That site makes reference to gvpgear for information about a lightweight pack. The gold standard in ultralight load hauling is Ray Jardine's Breeze.

For something outside of the box (or is that inside the tent?), try Powerpac.

As for lightening the stove/fuel, many swear by small alcohol stoves, but check out sierra zip stove on your favorite search engine. Along the AT there should be no shortage of fuel. A low impact start to living off the land.

Regards,

/Neal