One consideration on water: do you really need to carry 2 liters of water? If you don't, you can save 2 pounds right there.

I started out many years ago (when HJ was still writing about that newfangled "fire" invention) carrying 2 liters of water because They said everyone should. I found myself arriving at streams (which occur every 2 - 5 miles where I hike) with at least a liter left. It finally hit me that They might be wrong, and I started looking at a map to see where the next water was, and carrying accordingly. That mostly meant carrying only 1 liter.