Just what you need for those few highpoints with really long approach treks, like Gannett Peak and Kings Peak:

Big Dog Quadruped Robot

Of course, you'd want something a little bit quieter in the way of self-contained power for it and I'd really like to see it successfully negotiate a log bridge like the one across the creek on the way up to Kings Peak. However, with a 340# load capacity, it'd carry everything you needed for a week, including important things like some beers to celebrate the successful summit attempt!

Let me know when you send these guys $10,000 for further development. Looks like Mumenschanz outdoors.

Check out the Boston Dynamics web site page on BigDog.

The New Scientist site also seems to be fooled.

A straightforward Google search turns up additional information as well.

As far as I can tell, this is quite real, albeit a fairly early prototype. Whether or not it pans out as a pack mule for G.I.s (or highpointers!) remains to be seen but there are numerous other applications for similar technology, scaled up or down as appropriate to the task.

My Boss' son, and avid techno weenie, did a high school report on this about two years ago. He said they were located out of MA around Braintree just south of us here in NH. Pretty cool stuff being developed in our lifetime!