For about 22 years my father and I have gone to Ward Lake in the Sierra National Forest every August. It has turned now into a father son fishing/hiking trip with over 20 people attending yearly. We have our traditions like all groups like this. One includes on the first afternoon there we take a 10 minute drive up to Florence Lake and go "polar bear swimming" in the frigid waters (not really). They have a great little store to buy ice cream there and sit and ponder over the beauty displayed right in front of us.....and there it is. Every year tempting me more and more. Mount Shinn. It looks like a diamond being pushed up through the ground to a height of just under 11,000 ft. It has one major ridge (from the vantage point of Florence) on the north west side. Very little information is found on the internet or even the Secor book. A friend of mine (Jeff) shares a lot of the same passions as I do of not only rock climbing but Sierra scrambling. You may have ran across my old post here on ST trying to get any info http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1569566/Mount-Shinn. So with very small, if any, information about it we just decided to go for it.

We wake up at 5:00am and start the 3 hour drive to the trailhead. By 9:11 we are starting the 4 mile hike around Lake Florence.

We leave the main trail and head cross country just before the bridge. The first 1-2 miles are easy.



Florence Lake from a different view point. Here the trail starts to get steep and hard with fallen trees and thick brush.

Finally, on after climbing what seemed forever, we came to the first of many boulder fields.

Higher view yet of Florence.

Getting higher and getting harder to breath! I have always loved the alpine scenery!

Jeff pausing for a breather and enjoying the views.

Finally on the summit! 3:17 pm. We surely did not break any speed record but hey...we did it! We had views from Banner peak in the north to Whitney in the south east and the domes of Courtright! We only saw one other person on the trail and that was 2 miles out from Florence. What an awesome experience! I would rate the climb to be 3rd-4th class via the north west ridge.

Some awesome alpine climbing to be had here. Huge towers and ledges could be seen from the summit. A large tarn lake just below for water!

The hike back was nearly an epic one! We had grossly miscalculated food for calories and water needed. I only had 4 "Goo shots", 1 Odwalla bar, and a high calorie Power bar. My knees (which have never hurt...ever!) were screaming at me coming down the boulder fields and scrub brush hills. By the time we made it to the river we had just drank our last sip of water and were starting to get cotton mouth. We had no food in our stomachs for the past 3 hours. We sat down utterly tired. We had taken Jeff's steri-pen on a whim back at the truck....thank God! While we were drinking, Jeff found 2 more old goo shot's deep down in his pack....thank God again! We eventually made it back to the truck by 5:30 pm. I can honestly say that I have not been that tired very often in my life. The other time hauling a 100 lbs of gear with a crappy haul bag to Washington Column. This was a very enjoyable climb! I don't think I will do it again for a while. Next time I will spend the night at one of the lakes below it and make a day and a half trip out of it. The overall millage was 20 miles. 8 on trail and 12 off! Love it!