I don't carry a rain jacket.
I have a rain resistant windshirt hoodie, that is my shirt. I wear a tank top: I prefer merino if cold weather.
I use a tarp I can wear as a rainwrap, using a tie only at the waist.
If wind-driven cold rain is the rule, I think a LightHeart Gear Rain Hoodie and Exped or Equinox rain chaps are indicated.
I do have a Bug Baffler head net and a TiGoat Bug Bivy because I like my Gear tucked-in with me along with my Hammock Gear Burrow 20 top quilt and XTherm air mattress. I like that air matress only inflated enough so I don't hit the ground.
I used a Therma-a-Rest mat before, but the XTherm packs small inside my backpack. If I am only at higher altitudes, I do not carry the bug bivy.
I always have a garbage disposal bag backpack liner and polycryo groundsheet.
I always have an odor-proof Opsak food bag.
In any event, all these items if altogether pack light and take little space in the backpack.
I no longer bother with a headlamp, or, a flashlight. I have a LED baseball cap for lighting up the trail, if necessary, and only the keyring LED for a night-time call of nature.
I no longer bother with a MSR stove. I have an efficient spill-proof Zelph (forum member) alcohol stove back-up. Instead, I have a twiggy-fire for hot water, where allowed.
I do not carry plates or bowls. I use Vargo 750 Sierra cookware and eat from the cookwear. I no longer carry a separate drinking cup, as well. I manage nicely with a Snow Peak titanium spork. I do have a GSI scraper to get at every bit of food in the pan. I am considering I do not need the spork. However, it is more refined to have the spork. However, if tortillas were available, I would not need either one.
I do have two hats: one having a "rainwear brim" up front, and one, a warm balaclava for colder weather and for sleepwear.
My "silkweights" long underwear are my sleepwear unless needed in daytime as well. I have a Cold Avenger face mask for cold air, that serves well to help me keep warm, if the weather turns much colder.
One extra pair underwear in black color, so I wash it out and put it in the mesh net on the back of my backpack to dry out. I carry one pair extra socks, for the same arrangement. No one need notice these things drying in that mesh pocket.
I also have glove liners and shortie stretch gaiters to protect my ankles and keep out debris while hiking.
I also have one pair thick stretch-nylon fabric bicycling pants, windproof and having close fit at the ankles. I do not carry a change of pants. I do not carry shorts. The bicycling pants breathe well, are wind-resistant, and, are odor resistant.
I do not consider any of this "excess".
For me, excess would be a big knife or a saw: a twiggy fire, for example, has no twigs larger diameter than your fingers. Most twigs are just that - twigs. I only carry a "milk bag" opener sold on eBay, to open commercially bagged "hiking food".
I prefer to repackage and pack my own food.
In addition, I no longer bother with a water bladder. I prefer the small water bottles available at gas stations and grocery stores.
I like my Sierra Squeeze water filter as a gravity-fed system, rather than chemical or other means.
I no longer carry a big first aid kit, either. One or two small butterfly bandages, a repackaged small squeeze container 2% Hydrogen Peroxide, sting relief packet, and finger-size Xeroform burn bandages, a knuckle bandage I never have had to use. If a bicycle is involved for a hike-and-bike a bigger Xeroform bandage for "roadrash" I also never had to use. Is that excess?
I have tp in a ziplock (cardboard roll removed) and unscented baby wipes rewrapped tightly in foil for hygiene. I have soap leaves for handwashing. I have fingernail clippers, if going out more than a week or two.
For me, my iPod Touch is not excess, as it does so much and it has an accessory GPS. I wear a watch. I have a Suunto wrist compass and a key fob compass on a backpack shoulder strap.
Is that excess? Not for me.
If I carried all the items I said I no longer carry, I would have a much bigger and heavier backpack.