As usual, your questions are very poignant.
"About the places which appear to have been cleared away, (likely by LE):
Were these places with enough cover/concealment from the above roadway or neighbors, etc, that someone wouldn't be afraid to do something there during daylight hours?"
Yes, definitely. Said places have 360 degrees of total concealment (except from high above in the sky).
"Did you see any blood, or evidence that blood was removed, (soil disturbed/removed)?"
I saw no blood. But I did see in many locations disturbed and/or removed soil, as well as brush, tree branches and other vegetation that were disturbed and/or removed.
"After being on that hillside and thinking about more then just carrying ducks back home this time, what do you think of this being a one-man job or one man with wheel-barrow/cart job? Is everything continually downhill?"
Its certainly possible that a single individual could have undertaken the disposal of MCs body, especially if he/she had a wheel-barrow or cart. And, yes, starting at the driveway, and following the fluorescent red line down to the lawn, everything was down hill. And the perps movements on the property seem to indicate that he/she went straight down the hill to the stream-area.
If you check out the photos I told you about, theres one or two which show that the route taken by the perp as indicated by the fluorescent red line is consistent with (or maybe even showing) using some kind of wheeled apparatus to transport MCs body from the perps car in the driveway down to the stream. By this I mean that if the perp(s) carried MCs body in their arms or over their shoulders, they could have easily taken a shorter route from the driveway to the stream (i.e., the stairs or down the small rocky embankment).
Based on this, I SPECULATE that MCs body was transported down to the stream via some type of wheeled apparatus.
"Let's skip on over to ASSUMPTION land: I keep going back to LE's statement that it appeared the body was "placed" at that particular location. Was it the suspect trying to give MC's body a more upright position so she could look over the river? (Would definitely be a tip to LE that it could be someone who knew and cared for her if "placed" means something like that)."
I dont know how exactly MCs body was situated, except that her feet were in the water. But, if MCs body was, in fact, placed at the location I believe it was found at, then that location would enable the perp(s) to give MCs body a more upright position.