BrianLe and Jpete; Thanks guys! great advice and some considerations I hadn't taken into account. I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic, but haven't been back for a long while and forgot about the black flys in New England. Hiked up there for Senior trip in high school and was not a happy camper (pun intended).

AS far as tent vs bivy, I've actually got two bivy's. One is the old USGI which has no bug netting or frame to keep the fabric off my head in the event of really bad weather. It also weighs as much as some UL tents. The other is a Marmot Bug Bivy. It's only 20oz, and is more like a mini-tent in that it's got a pole at the head and can be staked out. The down side is that it's got no protection from the elements.

I'll probably make the final decision whether to take the Marmot with a sil-tarp and tyvek ground cloth since all told that will come in at around 29 oz., or the Spitfire and shave weight elsewhere. Right now my base weight calculation is right close to 22 lbs. So, I"ll be reconsidering a bunch of things.

Thanks again for the great advice!