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The tent goes on top or along the base or anywhere you feel it's most comfortable. Most good packs have straps on them for fixing tents and sleeping bags. If it hasn't use a couple of bungee cords. Bend the hooks round so they don't catch on things.

My tents are very lightweight so they weigh about the same as the sleeping bag and they go one either side of my pack and I can open it without them getting in the way.

Different With the Vango mountain tent...it's heavier and bulkier so it goes on top.

Put them into a couple of big black bin liners well wrapped round and carry a couple spare...very useful bags those, very light, good for sorting stuff as well, tidying the pack without having stuff out in the rain or whatever and get a rucksack cover to put over the pack...added security, weather protection.

How big?

How light can you travel? How many luxuries do you want? Can't live without music, CD player and 20 CDs? MP3... laptop.... I've seen a few like that.

How are you cooking? Got stoves and pans and loads of food? How bulky?

My MSR Dragonfly packs small.

Water bottles.....errr hydration systems for the posh technical name lot.

Water bottles have been OK for me on five continents so far. Keep it simple me....I don't go for fancy names.

Can you get water or are you taking loads of it? Weight and bulk soon adds up to not so happy with this lot to carry.

I take 1-month hiking trips all round the world summer and winter spring and autumn with a 50-litre Nomad pack and it does OK for me.

Alps, Andes, Atacama, Africa, Asia, Australia, all the same....

All start with 'A'...all Accessed without trouble....

Some people couldn't live for a weekend with that 50 litre pack. Want everything with them. Sometimes I've got field equipment in it too...stereo microscope, cameras, etc for biology field trips.

Still no problem for me but some would have.

65-70 liter rucksack carries enough to live for a year easy if you want to live simple and walk easy, or 2-week trips with loads of food, and enough goodies for comfort.

Not too bulky, easy carrying, very popular size.

But only you know if it's big enough for you...or small enough.

Have some good trips.

A 70L is sufficient size for an extended trek. Tents vary in size and poles make packing them a creative situation. Long poles of course go in the biggest compartment away from the body. I have a first out last in philosophy since when you get to camp the tent is the first order of business. External frame packs make tent packing a breeze since you just strap it on the outside frame some where. But with the internal type we often have to separate the components to make everything fit and work together. here is a link with more advice

http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/loading+b...

I usually pack my shelter in my pack, but I use a hennessey hammock, so it doesn't have any poles. Even when I do have a tent, I like packing everything I can inside the pack, fewer things to hook or snag on branches or get damaged by rocks.

A 70L bag will work for a week long trip, but you will probably find it a very tight squeeze for a 2 week trips. I would estimate 2 weeks of food at around 30-35L for one person. Though if you don't want to get a new bag you can look into some external pockets you can attach to your bag.

https://kifaru.net/longpocket.html

That's one example of an external pocket you can use to store extra gear on a bag. It's not possible to attach these to every bag though, so be sure to figure out how you're going to add it to your setup before you buy.

I carry the large ALICE pack when I go backpacking. It is a very rugged pack that is also very inexpensive. You can attach your tent at the top with the compression straps on it. It might not look as cool as other peoples packs but the ALICE pack is able to carry over a 100lbs of gear. I think I bought mine on ebay for under 40 dollars.