Touring - Front fork and rack compatability?

So I have narrowed myself down to getting a used mountain bike/ mountain bike frame to use as a tourer due to my budget and height. I’m going to be driving around today looking at bikes with cash in my wallet. I’ve done a lot of research but am confused on what to look for in the fork as far as using front panniers. There are supposed to be eyelets on the front bottom near the axel and something toward the handle bars right? I looked and rode a LHT today but haven’t seen any other bikes with the same looking fork. Or could I get a bike and just replace the fork?

To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, I’m 6'2'' and weigh 180 pounds. I want to use my bike in developing countries so I need 26er wheels. I’m leaving to tour Canada in a few weeks and want to do on and off road touring with this bike.

Here are the bikes I’m checking out.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/bik/778751265.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/bik/779082288.html




Is there anything else to look for in these bikes? I was thinking of changing the drive train and derailleur’s to a deore setup. I’m a complete noob so feel free to rip me too because I will learn a little! I will be asking a lot of question for getting ready. Ill update after I check them out this afternoon. Thanks!!!!!:D

That Schwinn ia nice, but probably has a 1" steerer. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the Trek probably has a 1.125" steerer which means you could get a Surly LHT fork for it. Then you could mount whatever you want on the front.

You can use a Old Man Mountain rack (http://www.oldmanmountain.com) on any fork...doesn't need eyelets at all. Although my LHT fork has all the touring eyelets I still use an OMM rack. Works great, solid, light and the QR system is not a problem at all.

the trek post has been deleted by author, I guess thats what you went with