JCWohlschlag, Exactely!
The original post was in the context of "day hike". Most of my beyond the beaten path adventures are in the context of hunting/scouting so I can well relate to the keeping it light point of view.
I'm sorry you are not going to carry around 40-50 lbs of "gear" on your back and get much day hiking or hunting in. I'ts just not nessesary. We are not talking about "packing in" for 7 days, or bugging out for an unspecifed amount of time. The context is day hike. The plan is to go back to the car/truck (where you should find more provisions), and then go home. I guess I just base my set up on getting lost or stranded for a night or two at the most. With the mindset being "I am not going to die TONIGHT from exposer"
I just can't justify carrying around 3 days worth of food and water, tent, sleeping bags, etc. for a day hike. (thats not survivng anyway, thats called "camping", we do that for fun in these parts) I will just have to make a couple snikers and a camelbak last for a while.