Volume of the pack has little to do with length of the trip. The reason my pack gets bigger is the food - if you need a bigger bear canister because you cannot resupply, you need a wider, taller pack.

The gear, if you have everything dialed in and good to go, will be the same volume from one trip to another. To use a 44 liter pack you will need to keep the gear minimal and extremely light and compact. That will mean down quilt, a pad or mattress like the NeoAir that compresses to nearly nothing, a sub-two-pound shelter (tarp or very small tent).

I would not take a Talon for two reasons: I have tried it and the frame is terribly uncomfortable for me - all the Osprey packs with that external/internal frame rectangle/mesh combo make my back feel like tenderized meat by the end of the day. And there is no way to fit a bear canister inside it, and the vast majority of the time, I am required to carry one.