Four hikers who consumed psychedelic mushrooms, including one experiencing a 'debilitating high', were rescued from New York's Catskill Mountains after becoming lost, state authorities said.
Forest rangers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) responded to a satellite text at about 5pm on 29 August from a hiker reporting the group was lost near Giant Ledge in the Slide Mountain Wilderness. The caller admitted the group had taken mushrooms and one was suffering a debilitating high.
Three rangers located the group at about 6.45pm and helped them to the trailhead, where they were assessed by an ambulance crew. The hikers had also lost their car keys. Rangers gave them a ride to their rental lodging, and the next day ranger Russell Martin hiked back up and found the keys under a log in tall ferns.
Martin told the New York Times: 'I’m not an expert in mushrooms, but these gentlemen definitely rode highs and lows.' The DEC did not release the hikers' names, but Martin said they were all men in their 20s.
The Police Benevolent Association of New York State commended the rangers, noting the rescue occurred at the start of the busy Labor Day weekend.
