If you have ever done the San Juan Hut System ...

What was the most important piece of gear that you packed?
What was the most important thing you wish you would have packed?
Did you ride the alternate single tracks routes? If so, which ones? Were the trails well marked? How easy is it to get of track?
How much did your gear weigh?
How many days did you spend in the same pair of shorts? :0
How many oz of water did you carry? Did you ever run short of water between huts?
Did you see many people along the way? ranchers, miners, hot chicks... If so, was everyone cool?

Cheers!

 

I did the hut2hut about 11 years ago. We got 8 friends together, so we didn't have to deal with other riders, just had to deal with each other.
One of the riders made up a web site of the trip, but I don't think it's up anymore and I haven't seen him in years.
Not sure about most important piece of gear. You need everything. Maybe good shorts? We did take rain gear, and I used shoes that I could hike in (in case of mud), but we lucked out and didn't have to deal with any rain.
We did carry spare parts, divided among the 8 of us. I carried a spare tire, which ended up getting used the last day, after 3 flats on one riders rear tire heading into Moab.
Lots of tools. I still have a kevlar spoke kit I bought for that trip (can replace any size spoke).
We did ride a single track halfway through the week. Nice change of pace, since most of the riding is fireroad. We did get lost a little, but that was pre-gps days. A gps might have helped.
No idea how much my gear weighed, but I did trim it down the best I could. Read some ultralight hiking blogs, etc. for ideas to travel light.
I used a very large camelback pack (maybe rim runner?), a rear rack that attached to my seatpost with a trunk bag, and a front handlebar bag. This worked out well, to distribute the weight, and move it front or back if I wanted.
For shorts I opted for roadie shorts, with liner-less shorts that I could put over them, but I might not have used. I had enough shorts to swap every day, then wash them halfway through the week (at a stream).
I can't remember how much water I carried, but I had a 100oz. bladder and at least one bottle. Never ran out of water. Only hot day was descending into Moab, the last day.
A couple of the guys took water filters, but we ended up not having to use them.
Didn't see many people along the way, but the people we did see were nice. Only hot chicks were on the ranch we stayed at, but the rancher had a shotgun, so we behaved. ;-)
My friends swore by Chamois Butter during and after the trip, so keep that in mind. Lots of saddle time, so keep your bottom happy. Clean shorts and good saddle.

Dave

 

My wife and I did Colorado Backcountry Biker for our honeymoon in 2012, it was rad. http://backcountrybiker.com. http://backcountrybiker.com/dominguez.html

Since this is similar to what you were asking about I thought I would share but it isn't what you were specifically asking about so I will spare you the details.

Pros:
Don't have to carry anything with you that you wouldn't normally carry
Excellent directions to and from huts
Really good food
Cold beer

Cons:
Expensive