I apologize for not reading all the posts, just too many posts and not enough time in a day.
There are many ways to pack a bike, and it could depend on what kind of bike camping you'll be doing.
I sort of agree with you about concerns of having too much weight up front, it definitely will make the front brakes work a lot harder, and put more stress on the headset, plus make steering much more difficult with slow handling.
Supposedly the idea weight distribution is 40r 60f to 50/50 but some bikes do better with a different combination, so you have to experiment with your load placement to see what your bike likes.
My 2019 Masi Giramondo preferred a weight placement of 80r and 20f, but there was something wrong with that frame because it would shimmy like crazy, and that weight distribution reduced it but did not eliminate it. When the bike shop guy rode the bike loaded he determined there was something wrong with the frame and it was dangerous to ride loaded, so Haro replaced the frame and fork this last couple of months, I haven't had a chance to load it and ride it due to the cold weather. But Haro was extremely quick at replacing the frame and fork which leads me to believe they might have known something was wrong with the steel, and were replacing them without asking questions as people complained. Most buyers probably didn't buy the bikes to tour on, so they'll never know there was a problem with the frame, which I think was the case because the shaking got worse the longer I had the bike.
At least Haro was quick and nice about replacing the frame and fork, the only other time I ever had a warranty issue was on a bike made by Orbea, the scandium frame started to crack at the top of the head tube radiated downward about a 1/4 of inch from the headset, the bike was 8 months old when I noticed the crack, Orbea refused to replace the frame under warranty, their logic was the frame failed due to fatigue and the warranty didn't cover that! Even the bike shop guy was surprised that Haro responded the way they did, he said most bike makers will go out of their way not to make good on their warranties.