Lori
You hit it on the head when you said "experience lets you carry less", therefore anyone asking advice due to their own lack of experience, does not have the experience of the responder and should carry more. You stated that you hike in the Sierras most weekends and live in Fresno, I know the mountains above you. You are acclimated merely by being up there at-least twice a month for a weekend. I always felt different in the Sieras if I went every other weekend.

If someone is coming up from sealevel and becomes exhausted at altitude, having a warm place to crawl into is essential.

However, the summer that I spent in the Sierras mostly alone, I did not carry any jacket at all, not even a rain jacket, nor a tent. I had a 8x10 sheet of plastic with a hole in the middle and a hood sewn in, like cape ponch. I sat under it during afternoon storms, slept on top of it, and when it rained at night, I pulled one half over me. If I was cold I wrapped my sleeping bag around me.
Jim