Four hikers were rescued by officials after they admitted to authorities that they had consumed magic mushrooms and were suffering from a “debilitating high.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers said that its rangers and local firefighters rescued the hikers in the Slide Mountain Wilderness, a park about 20 miles west of Woodstock, on Aug. 29.
“The original caller admitted the group had consumed mushrooms and one of them was experiencing a debilitating high,” the agency said in a statement.
Rangers and firefighters located the group of hikers and escorted them “to the trailhead where they were evaluated by Shandaken Ambulance,” the agency said.
Officials said that they provided a courtesy ride to the group’s rental lodging.
They added that one of the hikers lost their car keys, which rangers recovered the next day in a sling bag with the keys under a log in tall ferns.
An image of the rescue released by the agency shows what appears to be a man in a white hoodie being held up by two rangers.
Psilocybin mushrooms, known as magic mushrooms or shrooms, are a naturally occurring hallucinogen that typically cause shifts in how a person perceives reality, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Upon consumption, people may see colors, shapes or scenes; hear things that aren’t real; or lose their sense of time and space, according to the agency.
As of July 1, the agency had conducted 139 search and rescue missions in 2025, according to the release. It completed 362 search and rescue missions in all of 2024.
Cristian Santana contributed.