New Years Day- Hiking and Polar Bear Plunge

On New Year's Day, Garin and I were invited by our friends, Bryce and Franky, to join them on a New Year's Day hike. The hike was to the top of this mounthill (in between a mountain and a hill) that had an awesome view of downtown Boston. Ordinarily the hike would have been rather rudimentary, but add about a foot of snow and some icy rocks to the mix and things get a little more fun!

Us with Bryce and Franky at the top of the mountain.
The view of downtown Boston in the distance.

The hike up...thankfully it was actually a rather mild day, I think it was about 40 degrees, hence Garin's short sleeves and rolled up pants.

If we thought going up the hill was tricky on slippery stones with snow and ice packed on them...coming down was a whole new adventure. I think we all took a spill to the ground at some point on the way down.

Garin and I had been reading up on some places around Boston and the Cape that were having New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunges...and well, we thought it was a wonderful idea! Most of the organized ones required an "entrance fee" that was some sort of donation to a charitable cause (don't ask me why anyone would PAY to freeze themselves, but I guess its for a good cause), but due to the hike we missed most of those (and I might add that I'm cheap). So, I decided that, hey the beach is right out our front door, why can we not take advantage of the free freezing cold water right in front of us?! So, my bright idea lead to the following pictures:

The tide was as low as I have ever seen it...so after I ran about 50 ft into the water I was still only about knee/thigh deep. I eventually just dunked myself in to say I got completely wet.

The dash back in...my pants were so heavy and were falling off!!

Out of the four of us (Bryce and Franky were still there to witness my bravado), I was the only one witnessed to take the plunge. Garin said he would do it later but wanted to go for a run first...about an hour later he came home and was soaking wet, but I (nor any other confirmed person) did not actually witness his plunge. I'm not sure how else he would have gotten wet from head to toe (I mean, he does sweat a lot, but I guess not that much), so I guess I have to take his word for it ;)