Here is a pic of my urban assault bike I ride all over town. It has mud guards so I can stay on topic! It happens to be my old bikepacking bike. I converted to SS for a laugh a few years ago thinking it would be a short mod and I'd go back to gears, but I like it a lot so it's never been geared since.
I read about stuff like this --->
https://bikepacking.com/news/alexandera-houchin-2019-tour-divide/
https://bikepacking.com/plog/aakozikwe-alexandera-houchin-colorado-trail/
And I think I should give SS bikepacking a try. Not as my 24/7/365 forever solution, but for specific trips.
My thinking goes something like this. Take a typical Chilcotins tour. There are three modes I'm biking in. #1 - Steep extended climbs that are a viscous pedal and usually end up a viscous Hike-a-Bike anyways. #2 - Steep extended descents. #3 - Rolling terrain with short steep sections and mostly longer mild climbs & descents. I don't really need to pedal #1 & #2 so if I was riding a SS bike and I geared it for #3 I'd still get to ride/pedal almost as much as a geared bike. For a logging road trip I could do the same breakdown and gear the bike for the rolling portions of the trip and accept HABing the steeper extended climbs that I could ride with a geared bike. I have pushed my bike loaded with camping gear for a full day more than once so I'm not afraid of a bit of walking.
Of course it's easier to type this than to actually do it. So I was thinking I'd just load up my SS bike above with a minimal camping setup for a 2-3 day trip in the South Island and see what happens. If I hate it I'll never do it again. If I enjoyed it I can work on the setup to optimize it. Since I already have the SS bike it doesn't even require any purchase or wrenching...beyond maybe a larger cog.
Anyways sorry for taking this thread OT so far! If you don't read the text at least the photo is OT. ;-)