Four hikers were rescued over the weekend after taking psychedelic mushrooms, becoming disoriented and losing their car keys in the Catskill Mountains, according to forest rangers with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The rangers said the group got lost on Aug. 29 near Giant Ledge in the Slide Mountain Wilderness area, about 20 miles west of Woodstock.
One of the four called Ulster County 911 around 5 p.m. and “admitted the group had consumed mushrooms and one of them was experiencing a debilitating high,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
Three rangers found the hikers around 6:45 p.m. and, with the help of the Pine Hill Fire Department, escorted them back to the trailhead where they were examined by paramedics.
However, since they had also lost their car keys, the rangers had to drive the group back to their rental house.
The following day, a ranger hiked back up to the Giant Ledge and found a sling bag under a log surrounded by ferns. Inside the bag were the missing car keys.
“This level of dedication, at the start of a busy Labor Day weekend, is representative of the commitment shared by our Forest Ranger members,” James McCartney, president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, said in a statement on Thursday. “The PBA of New York State is proud to highlight our Forest Rangers and all members’ continued dedication to public safety in the face of difficulty and danger.”
Psilocybin mushrooms, more commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms, “can cause people to experience distorted sights and sounds and lose their sense of time and space,” according to the National Institutes of Health.
