EL -- If you are one of those people who don't mind hiking 22 miles per day, the JMT can certainly be done in 10 days. Of course there are crazier people who do it faster, like 5 - 6 days.
We originally planned on 10 days but ended up going for 9 because we decided to start off with two day hikes -- that got us 60 miles into it. We figured that we could do another 7 without re-supply, which worked out well (we did have food for an extra day, just in case).
There is certainly luck involved. For example, we only got rained on once. We had generally good conditions and no problems that required major adjustments.
Most people take a lot more than 10 days. I told a couple of people we met that I'd like to go back some day and do it in 3 weeks. Not because I didn't like our approach -- I loved it -- but because I think it would be fun to have time to hang around some favorite areas, take some side trips, do some peak bagging, and just do silly things like take a 2 hour lunch. One thing I would not do is weigh myself down with a huge pack.
Some of your questions are answered in my trip report at <a href="http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=1424&highlight="_blank>JMT Hike July 26 to August 3, 2006</a>. I also suggest that you send me a private message on that Web site. That way, I can provide you with as much detail as you like without going too far off topic over here.
Meanwhile, here are some answers to your queries:
We started out with a little over 30 lbs each. We each took a bear cannister so that we could camp anywhere we ended up at the end of a day. We had REI UL packs (60 liter ones so that the bear cans fit) -- there are lighter packs out there but I thought these were well-designed, comfortable, and cost effective. We had Marmot synthetic sleeping bags rated at 40 degrees that weighed in at something over a pound apiece. We slept quite comfortably, even when the temperature was in the mid 20s. We each had a full ultralight ThermaRest pad. We had a Sierra Designs Lightning 2 person tent that we really appreciated when rain was pouring down and when the skies outside were full of mosquitos.
For food, we relied on freeze-dried food for dinners, throwing in a couple of desserts. We also had oatmeal, dried fruit, tortillas, Parmesan cheese, beef sticks, jerkey, a tube filled with hot salsa, etc. We also took Odwalla bars, GU, and Cytomax, although less per day than we take on 25 mile day hikes. Except for the push up Mt. Whitney from Guitar Lake, we never carried more than a liter of water each -- usually less.
For cooking, we had a JetBoil stove, an extra JetBoil pot, two plastic sporks, and an Origami (plastic foldable) cup/bowl each. We almost made it on one fuel cannister -- the one ws used first was not brand new and I was certainly going to have a spare.
If you are interested in more detail (e.g., clothing, more food details, etc.), I suggest going the provate message route.
I think we ended using just about everything we took along. I did not feel any burning needs, so I would not way that anything was missing. I suppose I would pack more tape and a few more band-aids and/or gauze pads.
What would we do differently? I mentioned that I might try a more leisurely trip some day. However, I would not have changed too much on this one. I did make a mistake in relying on a pair of trail shoes that I really love. They started to die on me in multiple ways during the trip. I should have replaced them two months ago so that I had a new, but well broken in, pair.
Our typical schedule was to get up at 5:30 and hit the trail by 7:30. We generally hiked all day with 30 minutes for lunch and other stops as needed or desired. We seldom stopped much in the mornings and usually stopped more in the afternoons. We hiked until somewhere between 4:30 and 7:00 PM. We hit the sack by 9:00, sometimes a bit earlier. We did spend some time in the tent looking over maps, etc. to plan the next day.
I recommend "Guide to the John Muir Trail" by Thomas Winnett and Kathy Morey. We took it along and read it every night in the tent while looking at the maps.
Best of luck to you! We really enjoyed our hike and hope you enjoy yours as much!
