SUL so I could be super heavy

Nice! I love the ‘reverse gear list’ showing the negative space of what you didn’t use/need.

Bug bivy good for ticks or are there things still flying around over there?

I thought the bivy would be helpful to provide a little bit of minor wind protection plus if it’s windy I have everything inside and don’t need to worry anything will blow away. I guess it’s a security blanket of sorts because I feel sort of “inside” and safely tucked away with my belongings. I guess it wasn’t really needed either, so I could trade it for just polycryo.

I do not believe 7 pounds quite qualifies as SUL (technically speaking, that is 5 pounds or less.)  I well understand safety blankets, though. Whenever I set up for summer SUL trips, I have to be REAL careful about adding stuff at the last minute. In your case sketchy water supplies accounted for the most of your weight. Easily twice your base load.
Water weight does not count against base weight. However the bottles do.Iff the weather (sort’a unpredictable this year) cooperates, a simple tarp is all you need. I believe HMG or ZPacks have a nice light one between 7 and 12oz. It is real hard to say if you actually needed the puffy. IFF you used it every day, yeah, it’s probably needed. My SUL kit likes my down sweater, but even that gets a bit much, often bouncing me over the weight limit.

Anyway, I have found that it is NOT at all unusual to carry more (between food fuel and water) than my base load. 16 pounds of water and not knowing if/when you can resupply can be a scary feeling. It sure sounded like a fun trip, though. I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Well the description for this forum said 7lbs or less and I was just about there and certainly could have been below after my assessment of unnecessary items.