I rode an old favorite trail with some friends last weekend. It's a high, rough, and difficult one but not all that long at just under 20 Miles. The vertical climb and descent of 3400' and going up over an altitude of 12,000' make it a strenuous day.
I take my crop camera and 18-135 sealed zoom for this kind of thing since it's not too hard to carry, tough and not especially valuable, and I don't want to be changing lenses in the field. If I'm getting paid I'll take more/bigger gear but this setup punches above it's weight, IMO.
