2 lost hikers report friend dead. Ranger learns they were actually just on mushrooms
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KEENE, N.Y. (WJW) — What began as a fun Memorial Day trip through New York's Adirondack High Peaks for a group of friends turned into another kind of trip.
A ranger was dispatched to Cascade Mountain Saturday around 9 a.m. after two hikers called 911 to say a third person who was hiking with them had died, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said in a news release.
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The two then reportedly ran into a Cascade Summit Steward — who is part of a park program that works to help visitors and keep the mountain ecosystems healthy — and told them of their plight, adding they were lost.
Once a ranger arrived on scene, the steward told them the two 'hikers were in an altered mental state,' according to the release. The two hikers reportedly took hallucinogenic mushrooms.
These types of mushrooms, according to the Cleveland Clinic, lead to heightened sensory awareness, but can also lead to a 'bad trip,' which can 'cause frightening hallucinations, terror, depression or panic attacks.'
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A call then came in from the third hiker, who confirmed they were alive and uninjured.
The ranger said they escorted the two friends to a New York State Police unit that was waiting with an ambulance and then took the third hiker back to their campsite.
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