Hello all, my question is who makes the lightest bear canister approved for the JMT? Are There any type of sacks that are approved? Thanks in advance for the info. Happy Trails!!

Look at Bare Boxer, they make one that is great for solo use. But when you say JMT you might be wanting something bigger.

You may want to check out these. They can also be rented.
http://wild-ideas.net/index2.html

As Ed indicated above, check out the Bearikade. It's expensive, but worth the money in weight savings and wide-mouth food item access. I can get a weeks worth of food in the Weekender. Admittedly--and happily--I have yet to test it in the situation it was designed for, a bear encounter.

In answer to your specific questions, Berikade makes the lightest canisters. Ursacks are approved on a large portion of the JMT as is hanging your food (counter balance method mandated). Since you have to have a canister where they are required you might as well carry one and not worry about it.
Berikade advertises 2 canisters but they actually stock 3. The have a model called the Scout which kind of hidden on their web page and from what I understand it was never officially tested and approved by the powers to be. I doubt any authority would question it if you carried one. Berikade will also make custom models if you have the bucks.

Don

I can fit 9 days of food in a Bearikade, so you could go 10 days with the first days food outside the canister. Keep in mind that your hunger will go down due to the altitude.

Steve

Using compact foods (cous-cous instead of noodles, for example), repackaging freeze-dried dinners into plastic bags and a lot of squashing will help you get lots more food into a canister.

I've gotten 4 days' food for four people into a large Bear Vault or a Bearikade Weekender.

That bearikade scout is interesting at 1.76 lb. It's about the weight of the small bareboxer (1.6 lb), but it's double the volume (500 cu inches vs 275 cu inches). It's also almost 5X more expensive :(

If you hike in the Sierras on a regular basis, bite the bullet and get a Bearikade. I have had my weekender for about 6 years and it has been well worth it. It has been tested on two occasions, ( I have some cool claw and teeth marks on it ), and it has worked flawlessly. When the 1st edition of the Bear Vaults came out, the bears figured out they could bounce on them sideways and the lid would pop off. I had a bear in Vidette Meadows 'humping' my Weekender for a few minutes thinking it would pop the lid off. After we stopped laughing and wiped the tears from our eyes from laughter we scared off the bear and had no more problems that evening. You can also rent them if you only need it for an occasional trip. I can get 4 - 5 days worth of food in mine depending on how judicious I pack it.