Take a look at dried sausages. Dried Italian salami, German landjaeger or dry summer sausage. They require no refrigeration and they're tough enough to throw anywhere in your pack with out being destroyed. They also taste incredible (landjaeger if you can find it is my favorite, and it comes as a smaller individual sized sausage) and they're full of energy. They're not exactly light, but they're very energy and flavor dense so you don't have to carry much. You can eat them just out of the package of course, but you can also cut them up and make soup with them.

Then what about eggs, they're really not that heavy, say two ounces and egg and two eggs is a meal, three if you're really hungry. Scrambled, made into omelets or egg drop soup. Get a strong plastic container to carry them from any camping store (including Walmart). As long as you don't throw your bag around too much they'll never break.

Oats are another great food, oatmeal (which I'm not a huge fan of my self) or granola (which I am) make great camping or hiking food. Filled with nutrients and energy but not as heavy as the other two.

Hard cheeses, nuts, dried fruit and dense breads (like pita and little cocktail loafs of rye) also get the nod from me. I like to mix granola with nuts and dried, chopped fruit and eat it instead of GORP.

And finally, consider carrying things like Nutella (chocolate hazel nut spread), pate or tapenade (usually an olive based spread). Again, dense with flavor and energy. Pate usually comes in cans, which are pretty light. But tapenade usually comes in a glass jar, but you can put it in a light plastic container for less weight and more durability.

As you can tell, the watch word for hiking food for me is dense. As long as the weight isn't water (the only thing I've mentioned that carries much water are the eggs), heavier foods just mean more energy per pound. You don't have to eat or carry as much and they consume less volume in your pack. Plus, they're usually delicious. They're more expensive, but compared to freeze-dried or other "traditional" camp foods, not really. Besides, how often are you able to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

It's hard to find but powdered eggs are available. Sometimes called Dessicated or Baker's eggs. 1 lb. (about 3"x3"X6") is the equivalent of 4 dozen eggs and they keep for damn near ever.

Powdered eggs:
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=631&HS=1

Does anyone know how they taste compared to fresh eggs?

Depends on how you use them. If you want scrambled eggs you'll notice...if you want pancakes you might not.

Unfortunately I've only had them a few times as I've never been able to find the big tins of commercial storage grade egg.

Ive eaten my share of them in the Military. You can compare them to powdered vs fresh milk, instant vs fresh mashed potatoes etc. Honestly I think they taste like crap unless you add lots of salt,pepper and butter. They are great to store around the house for an emergency but better food can be had on the trail for sure. Ive taken them on hunting trips and added dehydrated onions, mushrooms, cheese etc to make a semi-editable omelet "thing" that I managed to choke down but I wont be carting them along again any time soon.

So I'm probably better off sucking up the weight and bringing real eggs. At least for short trips (say a night or two). Afterall, for four ounces you can have one of the great dishes of the world, a real omelet.

A trick I learned many years ago when I was in the scouts. I would take a steak or 2, maybe some hamburger or some stewing beef. I also did the same with bacon or a slice of ham. The meat was frozen in the freezer. Then just before leaving it would be wrapped in foil and a couple of sheets of newspaper. These packets would then be wrapped in spare cloths and stuffed into the middle of the pack. I would also crack some eggs into an ice cube tray and freeze. Then pop the desired number of these egg cubes into a baggie. These would be wrapped the same way as the meat. The foil and the newspaper are for insulation and to keep the clothing clean and dry.

Then for supper the first night, have a steak dinner with a baked potato wrapped in the foil that was around the meat cooked in the coals. Or then again maybe a stew. Depending upon my mood. The next morning, finish thawing the eggs. Then either fry them up or use them to make pancakes or French toast. A small bottle of maple syrup will top the pancakes with some butter. Add a side of ham or bacon starts the day off right. Then for lunch maybe a hamburger or cold snack, depending upon the schedule for the day. The second night there is a steak or stew. Perhaps a hamburger or maybe one of those foil packet meals scouts are noted for. Two days of fresh food before starting in on typical trail fare. Believe it or not the foods handled that way were still cold and often partially frozen for the two days. I never pushed it longer.

I would advise against drinking uprocessed water, even in the PNW. I've seen too many critters and people doing their business upstream to ever trust a raw water source again. Having been through one bout of giardia, I will take every precaution to avoid it in the future.

As for powdered eggs, I always found them to taste a little chalky and distinctively processed. If you reconsitute them for scrambled eggs or an omlette, realize that they will have a greater tendency to leak moisture as they cook than normal eggs will. To help overcome the off-taste, I use the Lurpa trick, and add a suitable amount of hot sauce to the mix, salsa if I can get it, but tabasco-style is okay. Not all powdered eggs are the same, and the cheaper OEM type will taste more processed than what you get in the foil pouches from Mountain house for $5 a bag.

We missed an Un-Rep one time out on an IO cruise and ended up eating a fair amount of powdered eggs, powdered milk and crackers. Thank God we didn't run out of real coffee. Fortunately I had a stash of sardine tins packed in mustard sauce. Opening one of those, I would eventually get the whole berthing compartment to myself. You can only eat so much powdered reconstituted scrambled eggs, you know.

I've heard that Egg Beaters can be frozen and carried in a similar manner. Might be nice because of less chance of a leak. I usually buy a package of Egg Beaters that has 3 small cups, each cup containing the equivalent of 2 eggs. The cup has a foil peel back lid. These might be real nice.

I've got a 5 day trip this summer to climb the tallest peak in Utah and I think I may take fresh food for the first couple days! Omlet for breakfast on day one and steak for dinner that night.