I did my first long distance trip in 1968 and starting riding the length of the California coast in 1972. My riding buddy and I created the first bicycle route map that was printed by the California Division of Highways in 1973. For financial reasons I camped most nights and cooked most meals on a small Svea alcohol stove. When I could afford to stay at B&B or motels and eat at restaurants that is what I started doing whenever possible. I could travel much lighter and my body liked a comfortable bed at night and a hot shower in the morning.
Bike touring over the forest roads is more difficult in terms of finding contiguous roads which often do not exist in national parks or forests or designated wilderness areas. So if would only be possible to do short trips in my area.
Route finding can be very difficult and one does not know if a road or trail continues through or dead ends or there is a locked gate that blocks bicycles.
On rail trails and similar surfaces I would want the wider 28mm to 38mm tires used on gravel bikes to have a less jarring ride and less chance of a broken spoke. Some of the hybrid bikes have special forks that function more like those on a mountain bike without adding a lot of weight. There are always going to be trade-offs.