Hiking w/ gear. Recommendations needed.

Hello,

Like many here, I am still searching for a good solution to comfortably hike w/ gear in tow. I was wondering if people here would share some of what has worked well for them.

Here are my requirements for a backpack.

• Can carry lightweight tripod

• Can carry a 2-3 liter water bladder

• Can carry a 100-400, 24-105 and a 7d/5d type SLR

• Can carry some food for a day hike

• A few compartments inside the bag for mem. cards, filters etc.

• Well-padded w/ good back support and front strap.

• Some level of water resistance

• Easy on the back for a full day hike

• $100 or less

So far, the best I have come up w/ is a regular school backpack w/ 4-5 compartments (1 for the water bladder, others for food and misc, lenses inside the bag in their own case, body around neck). The main problem w/ the one I have is lack of tripod carrying features and limited back support. It looks like you have to go to a camera bag to find the ability to carry a tripod however when you do this, you loose a lot of flexibility to do some of the things above.

Any suggestions on either a camera bag or a better/more padded regular backpack would be appreciated. I am also looking for a recommendation on a camera harness that I can use to take the stress off my neck when carrying the body while hiking.

Mike