Dozens take the plunge at Golden Gardens

Dozens of brave folks stripped down this morning in the balmy 30 degree weather to take part in the second annual Polar Bear Plunge at Golden Gardens.

Patrick Loderhose has plunged for three years now, always choosing a different location. “It’s nice to wash off our sins from the previous year and start fresh for the new year,” Loderhose says as he prepared to dunk at Golden Gardens.

“The water tends to be a bit warmer than the air so it’s actually a couple of minutes of being really, really cold, then you warm up and the rest of the day you feel good,” Loderhose says.

A few of the 2011 “plungers” at Golden Gardens Park.

Greg Buhl, Erin Buhl and Bill Schlipf came out to feel a little bit of home. The trio is from Chicago and this was their first plunge. “It was fantastic,” Greg says. For someone to get into frigid water takes someone “missing a few synapses,” Schlipf says. Or “Just a little adventurous spirit, I would say,” Greg adds, shivering with a towel wrapped around his shoulders.

Some people went waist-deep, others dunked all the way in.

For some, this was a family affair.

Schlipf also discovered a little side effect to the Polar Bear Plunge, “It’s the best hangover cure I’ve ever had,” Schlipf said.