Captain,

If your going to be doing a lot of scrambling, I caution lugging around any of these big motha packs loaded up which I mentioned (safety first). You may want to think about staging somehow with your cargo system centralized and a more mobile pack to reach various sampling locations.

However, I must stress that you have the right people for the right job on your project. If you are a student, this could be an opportunity to show your true leadership skills as well as scientific approach.

Try to come up with some appropriate assistants you can really lead. Think strong back and weak something or other, as I recall. I have been involved with similar sampling projects and we convinced some youngsters they would have a great summer in the wilds (with food, equipment and transportation supplied) only if they wouldn't mind carrying some stuff. Wait..... did I fall for that myself?