You NEED the wide-angle! I went hiking in Portland (up by Hood) years ago and all I had with me was35mm Rebel and a crappy 80-200mm zoom attached (just out of college, this hand-me-down kit was all that I had[]). It totally killed the perspective of the height of the cliffs and theview down 45 degreeterrain that we were hiking. Rember that your nifty-fifty will provide the same angle of view that my 80mm did on my 35mm Rebel. If you can get your hands on the 18-55 kit like Daniel suggested that would be great since it's so light but I personally don't feel like the 17-55 f/2.8 is very heavy.