Still recovering and wondering what you ultralight portagers leave behind. Here are some candidates for pack gleaning:
-tackle box
-chair
-axe
-saw
-tarp
-camp shoes
-gas backup stove
-camera
Don’t know if I can enjoy a trip without these items, but I got nothing else to do except ponder such things.
For my trip last year, I asked the forum a version of this question, ie. what would you leave behind. I was trying to lighten the load so that this old lady could still do the portages. That version is still on the forum somewhere. You have framed your question better. I got replies telling me what to bring.
For fishing, I have sometimes left it all behind and then regretted it. For light weight, bring a pole and a few lures.
Chair: I have never taken a chair. The worst thing we do for ourselves as we age is become unable to get up and down from the floor or ground. Being unable to do this is basically heading you for the nursing home. I keep sitting on the ground.
Axe and saw. I have never taken them and never needed them. I just work around with whatever is there.
Tarp. I do take a tarp. You can get a lightweight one for about a pound of sylnylon. I made my own version of the CCS tarp and it works great for about 1/3 the price. CCS is expensive, but better than staying home. There is another provider who sells reasonably priced syl tarps. I'll post it if I remember. It is a weird name.
Camp Shoes - gotta have shoes to protect the feet. If you stay wet, you are likely to get trench foot. A cut or other wound on your foot could terminate the trip.
Gas back-up stove - I have never taken one. I don't know what you usually use, but this year I am taking my trangia and for back up (4 week trip) a titanium twig stove made by Bothwell Voyageur. Tiny, compact, light, and excellent design. Thank you, BV!
Camera - In the years before digital, I decided not to take a camera. I found that I was spending more time setting up photos and fussing with lenses and film, etc, etc and I wasn't enjoying being where I was, being in the now. And if I wasn't doing that, why was I in the canoe? A couple of years ago on the Suwannee, I took a real digital camera and an older iphone (6s.) The iphone photos were better quality than the mid-range digital. Now I just bring the iphone. Put it on airplane mode.
In my early 40s I was diagnosed with a debilitating chronic disease that I still have, although now it is better managed. I couldn't paddle. I could hardly walk to the bathroom. I signed up with some group paddles where I could go as a passenger. That was way better than staying home. Gradually, I regained function and while I have never regained the level of physical fitness I once had, I can paddle and wilderness trip.
Then a couple of years ago I broke my ankle. That kept me home for a while. But I just kept moving, walking a mile a day on a walking cast. Finally went on my first solo trip on the Suwannee. I wrote up half the trip; it is somewhere in this forum. I lost proprioception in that leg and could not get in or out of a canoe. I would be crawling out of the canoe up to my backside in water. It's better now, but I still have trouble getting in and out of the canoe because I don't know where my blasted leg/foot is. Oliver Sacks wrote of a woman who lost ALL proprioception and she could not move at all. She taught herself to move again by having mirrors put all around her house and if she could see herself, she could make herself move. So I that's how I taught myself to move my foot. I have to watch the foot and visualize the movement I want it to make.
So, I tell you these things to let you know it WILL get better. The early days of recovery s*ck, I know. But you can do it.