olsonsview

Just a thought: I have needed huge capacity for camping gear as well as camera. So I bought a comfy camera backpack that held enough for day trips from a basecamp, and also had taken a very large hiking backpack that the camera bag stowed into when I needed to move my camping and photo gear to the basecamp. The camping backpack with hiking equipment could be sent fed-ex to the starting point containing only clothes, boots, and whatever I needed to camp/hike with. The camera stayed with me in a carry on sized camera backpack as I flew to destination. Made the whole process easy and I kept my camera close by and safe at all times.

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

The Tenba line of backpacks includes many without wheels.

jgm

I'll second MindShift packs. I have a their Backlight 26L and love it. Sized for airline carry-on. Great shoulder straps, waist belt and chest strap. Carries heavy loads well. Used it last month on a trip to England and the Outer Hebrides of Scotland with a Nikon D7200, 200-500mm, and two additional lens, flash and macro accessories in addition to a 13" Mac Powerbook and IPad mini. Mindshift is a division of ThinkTank, I believe. I'm very satisfied with mine.

https://www.mindshiftgear.com/products/backlight-26l

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

There are several Lowepro candidates. I have several. Very high quality.

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

You will need a separate carrier to keep one camera on your chest. Also pack MUST have padded hip belt and robust chest strap. If pack has chest strap that slides up and down along a cable sewn into the shoulder strap, buy a backup that goes AROUND each shoulder strap. The other ones are not robust enough for rigorous hiking.

bamfordr Loc: Campbell CA

You can check out peak performance back packs. It will be my next carry-on solution.

Bob Boner

I just got the Think Tank Airport Security. It is the largest allowed on domestic flights. I am leaving with it on Saturday, so I don't know yet how it will work out. Seems to be very well made.

Elsiss Loc: Bayside, NY, Boynton Beach, Fl.

I was there last year and traveled lighter. I used a Lowepro photo hatchback 22l, but I only took one body with 2 lenses. Needed heavier clothing as it was snowing last June at the glacier. If you are being dropped off in a remote area, make sure you have survival equipment as well as bear repellent. Have fun and Godspeed to you.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I have the Kata Bumblebee pack which holds every piece of gear I own.
Manfrotto bought it and is now MB PL-B-220. They thought of everything when they created it including its own rain cover.

And it is very comfortable to wear even with over 30 lbs of gear.

It holds my 17-40 f/4, 24-105 f/4, 70-200 2.8 IS, 100-400 IS, 300 2.8 IS, 2 bodies, a 2x TC, 430exII & 580ex speedlites, a 15" laptop and charger, several batteries with dual charger and other miscellaneous items including an external HD.


https://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-MB-PL-B-220-Backpack-Black/dp/B00K08ORGK

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

What I was going to recommend www.mindshiftgear.com/photocross?rfsn=481480.d0c50

genesampson

B&H just put an Ikan explorer bag on sale for about half price, limited time. Might want to take a look. I don't have one.

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

The Mountain Series from f-stop would be my choice. Here is a link to their web store.
http://shop.fstopgear.com/us/product/mountain.html

kayakbob Loc: Placerville, CA

Check out Clikelite.com, they make adventure oriented photography backpacks. Some also have a external bladder sleeve.
They are well made, and have an excellent hip supension system, something l found lacking in most photography backpacks when I was researching them several years ago
Bob

PGHphoto Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Something that will help your back - get a backpack that has a strap that cinches around your waist and has pads on the back of the strap that sit on your hips. One example of this is the ProTactic 350 AW (http://store.lowepro.com/backpacks/protactic-350-aw) . Similar to a hiking backpack, this will place the largest amount of the weight on your hips and make your back much happier ! Avoid the packs that do not have the hip padding as they will put all the weight on your shoulders and neck - forcing your back to support everything. The nice thing about the LowePro is that you don't need to completely take it off your back to get at everything. Leave the belt on your waist, slip out of the shoulder straps and pull the pack in front of you. Everything is easily accessible .

I have done a couple long distance hikes with my older LowePro pack carrying almost 40 pounds of gear (couple of bodies, battery grips, 4 lenses including sigma 100-50, tripod, etc) and, other than tired legs, had no physical strain out of the ordinary. I did however learn that I don't need to take all that with me but can't say there was anything I didn't use once !

Then again I MAY have used things once just so my wife couldn't say "I told you you didn't need to bring that ..."

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

I'd suggest getting all your stuff together so you have a real idea of what it looks like. Then go to an outdoor and/or travel store (I'd use REI but there are a lot of others out there) and look at the packs they have and try them on. It may be that one of them fits your needs perfectly. I'm pretty sure REI would let you bring your stuff so you could make sure it fits. Good luck and it sounds like a wonderful trip.