Sorry I was tied up with work for the past three days and didn't see your post. The '96 Gary Fisher is probably in the ballpark of what you are looking for, it'd be helpful if we knew the exact model so we could look at pictures online and give you a few more pointers. Also Bikepedia can be a great resource if you know the year and model. Same with the Norco, in addition to what level components it has on it, to my mind what you are looking for is:

#1 is it your size? Find out your size and only get something that fits you. This might require some back and forth with Craigslist sellers and either instructing them how to measure the bike, find the size label if it has one, or being prepared to tell them it doesn't fit you if you end up checking it out in person and discover that. After that, what you are looking for is:

- a rigid fork
- eyelets at the bottom of the fork and at the rear dropouts. A double set of each is ideal, especially if you want fenders as well as racks.
- not the very lowest level of components (although this might be moot if you are transferring everything over from your Jamis)

Ideally if you can get a late 80's or early 90's mountain bike, some of these have longer chainstays, quite similar to touring geometry.

FWIW I payed $90 for a 1991 Sekai (rebadged Norco) MTB, that looked like it had never been ridden but had acquired a few scrapes being in a garage for the past 20 years. If the Norco is your size and has eyelets front and rear it'd probably suit your purposes for discovering whether touring is for you and you want to invest more in.

Couple more things: of course having the weight of your backpack on a rear rack isn't ideal. BUT, when I used to be a legal messenger I'd very commonly bungee one and even two (stacked) bankers boxes of documents on the rear rack of my bike. A bankers box full of documents is 48 pounds. Was it unstable? Somewhat, sure. Was I able to climb and descend hills in Seattle, in the rain, and take turns through intersections at a decent speed like this? Definitely less. Sure, it is less ideal than having the weight riding low in panniers on racks close to the center of the wheels, but its doable. I even extended the deck of my rear rack to support boxes by just strapping a board to it that stuck out about five inches past the end of the rack, to give the boxes more support, since the rack was a little short. If you DIY some sort of basket on top of a rear rack to hold your pack you might find you need to do something similar.

You mention kitty litter buckets. I've toured with these. Actually, the ones I used were a set of the nicely converted ones from Cobbworks, back when they were making them. I borrowed these from a friend because I didn't get the buckets I was converting done before my last tour. The buckets have some nice advantages for camping. I keep my food in them and it is safe from any animal smaller than a bear. Having two buckets means that wherever you stop you can have a stool and a small table. The plastic lids make okay cutting boards if you are cooking. I lucked out and the Cobbworks buckets hooks end up having the buckets hang at the same height as the deck of my rear rack, so I effectively have a rear platform that spans all that surface, which makes a nice place to put the lighter weight but bulky items like my sleeping pad, and I have room for the luxury of two small pillows up there too.

I actually tracked down one of the sources for these buckets ("4 gallon oyster buckets" IIRC) and ordered them directly from them, because they have a nice orange color, and my girlfriends preferred cat litter doesn't come in these containers. Even though they normally deal in much larger orders, they were more than happy to ship me a handful of them. I should have their contact info somewhere if anyone is interested.

Don't get too fixated on a particular bike on Craigslist. Every day more stuff appears there, if you have the time to be patient, chances are, just what you need will pop up in a few weeks.