During a smash and grab Cali trip in 2025, Ari and Jordy managed to tick off the lesser known Devils Postpile of the Middle San Joaquin. The lads ended up doing it as a gruesome two-some at what locals thought was at the higher end of the flow range for the run. Adding a little more complexity, the road down to rainbow falls was shut so they had to hike in via mammoth pass.
Putting on at 190, the flow held/went up and it was early season so there was a lot of flow coming in from the side creeks. This was a PERFECT flow.
Overall the run is world class, endless epic whitewater that for the most part was optional. That said, very little portaging other than some obvious ones. Here are same gems of beta that might be useful for teams going in, but for a much more detailed rundown look at Darin McQuiods write up or speak to the infamous Six-Seven Kevin if you can track him down.
1. We suggest not putting on at rainbow falls, keep walking down the trail past lower rainbow falls and then follow Darins portage guide. We put in at 37.582061,-119.094163 by walking down a crack/gully. This is where we would suit up. If you do put on, you end up doing the portage below low rainbow in your dry gear, and sweat it all out and the lower rainbow falls isn’t really worth it.
2. The whitewater crux is on day 2, what we called the Serpent Gorge (Ari seen two rattle snakes scouting high of river right, so we paddled opposed to portage). It’s just after boof-o-matic gorge. There is 2-3 drops back to back, the first is a watery boof into a corridor on the left, which has a nasty pocket eddy that a swim could be terminal. Stay more centre/right in the corridor if possible. This drops into a small pool/eddy before a 3rd drop which is very sticky and likely to beat/swim people. We portaged the third drop easily on the right.
3. It sounds like people have been getting out at the bridge on river right and portaging the first part of the crucible gorge/section. It’s confusing where to go, the trail kinda heads upstream… do not follow this. Kinda climb up the rocks in line with the bridge and eventually you will find some rock cairns, these lead you over a ridge, down through some trees and we put on here. 37.482097,-119.211705.
4. Further down there are several portages, per Darins blog one looks easier to start on the left but there are some ledges/potholes on the right that give you access to walking along a low angle granite wall. This side is MUCH easier, you will see when portaging. Starting here 37.481508,-119.217075
5. The crucible inner, just below balloon dome camp, its good to go. You can scout the first two on the right, and with high water was could paddle down the right opposed to the middle for the first one. Broken arrow is straight forward. The third drop you boof middle and then drive back to the right for another boof above the “must run”. You can easily get out and scout this in a crack on the left, we set a line from a tree and wrapped down to the ledge below the drop safely. This is a good option for one person to do to set safety or for people to portage if required. The river came up 6 inches overnight while we were camped at balloon dome, and this didnt cause any issue.
Other than this beta, you can work out the rest. Maybe have Darins URL/page downloaded on your phone if you’re keen to have an idea of whats coming up, we did it and it kinda helped us mentally map out the upcoming day.
