Devil’s Postpile – Middle Fork San Joaquin V-V+ (P)
-Day Three-

If you havn't read them, peruse Day One and Day Two first.


Completely walled in. Unscoutable. Unportageable. Questionably high flows. Ambiguous beta. Thoughts of dealing with the Crucible the next day haunted our group as we tried to sleep though an unusually warm night.

We had done our research though. Even after talking to Scott Lindgrin, Willie Kern and the Knapps the beta was still a little questionable. Right right left, or right middle left, or middle middle left, depending on flows. And all that if nothing has changed in the last few years.

First it was pure work though. We were all on the same page of motivation, and at seven in the morning we put on to start the portaging. From two thousand feet away they looked like rocky but easy river level portages. Down at river level we were dealing with portaging over car sized boulders that created dead end sieved out rapids. We were glad the rocks existed though, because down in this gorge there would be no other way to portage.

Charlie Center, strictly business.


It’s portage time once again.


After four portages on the left the river went completely underground, and it looked like there was an easy portage down the right while we were already committed on the left. We started working our way through a brief stretch thick manzinata, which opened up to a blessing and curse of open granite. Not dealing with the horrible plant was great, but the portage route was a four inch wide ledge over a thirty foot precipice falling directly into the river moments before it disappeared. Then the portage got a little worse, requiring delicate friction climbing across a steep slab, but we all made it back down to the river safely.

One small flat led to another large sievey rapid we portaged the top of on the right, and ran the bottom into the final flat above the Crucible.

The river winds all the way around Balloon Dome.


Right above the Crucible were a few more quick portages. Scott Ligare starting a portage, locked in now…



Portaging into “Purgatory Camp” we decided to break up into teams of two, wanting to make sure there was plenty of eddy space in the Crucible. Confidence in our ability to navigate the Crucible combined with desire to make downstream progress, we opted to skip the normal scout that requires hours intense friction climbing and rope work. Most groups also spend a lot of time portaging the first consequential rapid in the Crucible.

Taylor Robertson above the Crucible…



To quote the Seven Rivers Expedition again: “Paddling into this place has been defined as the defining moment in a kayaker’s career. Who ever said that was right.”

Taylor and Chuck opted to fire up the rapid above the Crucible, locking themselves in. Taylor probed the drop and had no problems, although it did look big and juicy.

Taylor Robertson finishing up the large rapid above the Crucible drops.


Scott ran through the drop with no problems while I got setup and ran the drop down to the final eddy above the Crucible. While I was running the rapid Charlie and Taylor ran “Broken Arrow Falls”, the first drop of the Crucible. From our eddy we couldn’t see Taylor or Charlie, nor had Scott or I seen where they had gone off. Having not scouted we weren’t sure if this was the first one where you go right or not, but the upstream group had seen them run it so we waited for them.

Evan and Ben came down, and Ben had seen Taylor go right paddling hard, and have to keep paddling too long for comfort to get out. Charlie went a little more left than Taylor, and it was better, but they had signaled for the boys to go even further left, so Ben and Evan took off while Scott and I waited. Rush and Tyler came down with no problems and we all took off left of center on Broken Arrow Falls, a nice slide to boof shaped like an arrowhead.

While waiting and running Broken Arrow, Tay and Charlie had probed the next two drops and gave hand signals to the group, drive right against the wall, go right again and then move hard left at the bottom. From the top all I could see was people disappearing down the right side, and the eddy started to thin out until it was eventually just Ben and I. With Ben peeling out of the eddy and heading down the right, I was suddenly extremely isolated, sitting alone in a walled out gorge, no one in sight, two rapids and a lifetime from the group downstream.

Driving hard to the right I was rejected at the bottom of the slide, getting stuck in a swirley on right wall. I was able to keep it upright and get far enough into the outflow to sink my paddle blade in, pulling me down into an alley way leading into the second right slide, punched the hole at the bottom and scurried into the eddy on the left.

Charlie and Tay got out in the small crack on river left to scout and set safety above the pothole drop while the rest of us lined up in the eddy.

One more to go.


Scott and Rush disappeared over the horizon with no problems, and I opted to go next in hope of getting a picture from below. While Scott and Rush got setup Taylor ferried into the middle and got out in a sketchy spot to set some great safety for the pothole.

Dropping into the pothole drop I hit the classic line, a delayed boof that feels great, but the sloping slab caught my tail and penciled me in just like it did to the others. Unlike the rest of the group, instead of going deep and resurfacing out of the pothole I was rejected and did a pogo into the left wall and was upside down. I thought things were going to get really bad here, but I was able to push off the wall, roll up and paddle out.

Evan Garcia dropping into the pothole.


[2008, Ben Stookesberry exits the Crucible at flows we deemed "too high", we were glad to escape.]


Special thanks to Taylor for pulling a sketchy move to set good safety for the group.


Everyone else finished the Crucible with no problems and we took an obligatory break at the Shangri-La falls of Granite Creek.

Looking back upstream at the Crucible.


Right below the Crucible is the well know "Shangri-La" waterfall, an epic spot to take a break after the stress.
Ben Stookesberry soaking it in on a 2008 trip.


We knew it wasn’t over after the Crucible, and the San Joaquin just doesn’t let up. The river went underground two more times before the confluence with the South Fork. Our backpacker told us that he had hiked almost all the way to the South Fork, and that it was mellow all the way too it.
Quick lunch at the South Fork San Joaquin confluence.


Well, the river certainly didn’t let up below the South Fork confluence, and in the name of making time Charlie and Taylor were charging ahead with aggressive boat scouting and the occasional one person scout. Sieved out rapids requiring arduous portages over large boulders and long demanding rapids started to wear us out. The only time to snap a shot was during the portaging. Charlie and Taylor boat scouted some of the largest rapids I have ever ran, without these guys I have no doubt we would have been out for another day.

Tyler Bradt finishing yet another portage above yet another gigantic gorge.


Ben Stookesberry looking back upstream at Balloon Dome on the same portage in '08.


The San Joaquin didn’t let up in its tough character until half a mile above the lake, where one long pool led into another large class V drop, one more pool and a class III drop into Mammoth Pools Reservoir.

Ben Stookesberry runs a typical sievey rapid on the Middle Fork San Joaquin, 2008, high flows.


On my first trip down Charlie Center gave us beta on one of the larger drops of the bottom section. Ben Stookesberry running the said drop in spring 2008.


Ben Stookesberry finishing the same drop.


Matt Thomas on the same in fall 2008, flows provided by the South Fork San Joaquin.


Kevin Smith finishing the bottom boof, fall '08.


At 4:30 we arrived at the lake dog tired after three days of demanding whitewater and thirty total portages. We then reaped the rewards of pushing hard to come out on a weekend, and started catching rides off the numerous fishing boats, ecstatic about avoiding the six mile paddle out and successfully finishing Devil’s Postpile.

For all its hype, the Crucible is very manageable and we felt the other gorges are just as tough, if not tougher. Every day contains locked in gorges where consequences are high. I’ll throw out a few more quotes that say it better than I can. “It’s like Dinkey Creek on crack and in a gorge” – Taylor Robertson. “The hardest thing I have ever done in a kayak” – Jules Campbell. “This is the most demanding run I’ve ever seen” “If you’ve done all the other high Sierra runs, and want more, this is for you. – Holbek & Stanley. “This run is one of the most beautiful and scary there is. It’s full-on adventure.” – Hayden Glatte.

We didn’t have to do any rope work or technical portages, although like all the modern descents we were forced to run a few V+ somewhat marginal drops. Like all things this challenging, kayaking Devil’s Postpile is also incredibly rewarding and we all have plans on returning.

After having seen portions of the Middle Fork San Joaquin three times, I think flows make all the difference. This is a river with a lot of sieves, at high flows more water goes into the same sieves that are present at medium flows. Next time I go in I'll be looking for a nice medium level, certainly lower than most the photographs contained in this article.

The Middle Fork San Joaquin is a challenge. If you are looking for a fun run with lots of time in your boat there are better options. If you want one of the ultimate kayaking challenges, full of sketchy portages and locked in gorges, this is the run for you!