Four hikers who admitted to taking psychedelic mushrooms were rescued in New York’s Catskill Mountains after becoming disoriented and straying off the trail, officials said. It’s the second such case this year in New York’s popular mountain areas.

The group called for help around 5 p.m. on Aug. 29 when one member suffered a “debilitating high,” according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Forest rangers and the Pine Hill Fire Department located the group at about 6:45 p.m. — less than 1,000 feet from the marked trail. 

New York State Forest Rangers carry a disoriented hiker out of the Slide Mountain Wilderness after a group admitted to taking psychedelic mushrooms near Giant Ledge in the Catskills on Aug. 29, 2025. Psilocybin mushrooms, seen at right, are a hallucinogen that can cause intense hallucinations and confusion. (Department of Environmental Conservation; James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The men had strayed about 1,000 feet off the trail, according to the New York Times.

Once rangers and firefighters located the men, they guided the group back to the trailhead, where they were evaluated. Officials said none of the men required hospitalization and rangers later drove them back to their rental lodging.

Somewhere along the way, the hikers also lost their car keys, officials said. The following day, one of the rangers hiked back up and found a sling bag with the keys under a log in tall ferns.

Psilocybin mushrooms dry on a rack in the Uptown Fungus lab in Springfield, Oregon, on Aug. 14, 2023. (Craig Mitchelldyer)

In May, two hikers in the Adirondack Mountains – in the northeastern part of New York state near Lake Placid – called the authorities to report that a member of their hiking party had died. It turned out they had taken hallucinogenic mushrooms and were mistaken.

The hiker who was believed to be dead called and was not injured. A ranger escorted the two hikers down to an ambulance, which took them to a hospital and brought the third to the group’s campsite, where they all later met up, officials said.

The two hikers who called 911 also told a steward on the mountain’s summit that they were lost. The steward “determined the hikers were in an altered mental state,” according to the DEC.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.