AlaskaMagnum-Again, thanks for the replies and the extra info. Finding a water source is not an issue peticularly. Like I said, there are many mountain lakes that hold water year round, but I get nervous drinking from standing water. By October the snow pack will be gone. I will look into that purifier you mentioned. About how much water can you get in a specified amount of time? I just went to Walmart actually to look and see if they had any of the compact backpack tents. They are in their alpine line or something like that. Umm... trees, may be very interesting. There are a few, but most are on rockslides! I was also looking at the Cabela's Alaskan I or II frame pack. I asked about them in the gear review forum, but did not recieve many replies. I will stick with the sleeping bag that I have. I don't recall how much it weighs, but it is not very much and is good for temps well below zero, and most of the time I sweat out of it even in cooler temps.