DOSE: T+ 0:00		oral	Mushrooms - P. cubensis	(dried)
T+ 1:00		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

It was my senior year in high school, and eating magic mushrooms on the weekends was becoming a popular activity for many of us. We all lived in the Pacific Northwest, where Psilocybe cubensis is probably the most readily available hallucinogenic mushroom. Hundreds of pounds are harvested wildly from wet, forested areas as well as pastures. I was able to obtain about one ounce of the orange red capped, white and purple streaked stem mushrooms. I was excited because the ounce only cost me $80, and I knew it would be more than enough to get my small group of friends 'frying nuts' off these cubensis. We had all tripped together several times before, and we were beginning to perfect the set and setting of the experience. We were not however, prepared for the intensity or mechanics of our upcoming trip on this particular, planned weekend adventure.

The five of us arrived at the Oregon Coast around 4:00 PM. We set up our camp, and proceeded to bring our other supplies down to the main beach area. We had plans to make a natural sweat lodge on the beach. We rolled large round stones underneath our bonfire so they would soak up the heat of the evening fire, later to be rolled into our sweat lodge for heat. I insisted that everyone should fast as much as possible before eating the mushrooms. Nate and Steve whined about their hunger, so Pete dolled them small amounts of organic nuts. Everything was as ready as it could be.

The ounce of shrooms was dumped on the head of our large African drum and divided into five heaping portions. I was sort of the quiet leader, and my portion was considerably larger than the other portions by about two grams. I'm pretty sure I consumed at least 7 grams, but not much more. It was already about 6:00 PM, and the sun was setting so I said, 'Let's eat these guys!' We had found that Cubensis had much more of a profound physical body high and head trip than visual effects, so we had better visual results in the evening time.

It was easier to chew the bitter, dried mushrooms with everyone suffering the bad taste together as a group. I could hear Nate gagging a little after swallowing what I think was his first eighth of mushrooms, so I reminded him that thoroughly chewing them up, despite the bad taste, would give him a stronger onset of the high as well as less stomach cramps later on. We washed them down with water, and everyone was left with mush and stem pieces stuck in their teeth. Nate and Steve had claimed to have veteran status with the shrooms, but Pete and I confided to each other that they were probably lying in order to seem as cool and experienced as we were. Boy were they in for it as newbies!

Everyone was messing around building the fire untill about 6:30PM. That's when Pete and I looked right at each other and then back at the other three who were still scurrying around gathering wood. I could feel my chest tightening and my pulse increased. I felt the jitters and Pete was talking really fast to me. I knew I had dosed myself heavily (I usually obtain pretty fierce visuals and some insanity from 3.5 grams), but the onset of the trip still was taking a while to set in.

Suddenly, I felt very uncomfortable. I had to distract myself somehow. My hands were tweaking and my arms felt tingly all over. I instinctually grabbed the drum and started slapping my hands down in a neurotically fast rhythm. This eased me but I simply couldn't stop drumming. I think it was closer to 7:00 PM now, and it was dark out. Suddenly, my whole body was tense and surged with the drumming. The fire was fully ablaze and Pete was nodding with drum beat. I wasn't fully tripping yet, but I was completely connected with drum. I could clearly imagine myself as boy coming of age in Africa, undergoing a powerful shaman ritual. I stopped drumming and immediately felt kinda sick to my stomach. Pete was laying on his side, obviously in some sort of stomach discomfort as well. He packed his ceremonial, wooden carved pipe with fresh marijuana, and handed it to me. I inhaled a larger hit than I ever had before in my life. The smoke billowed out and I was amazed that I didn't choke like I usually did from big hits. Pete and I were aware that the mushrooms were about to fully seize control of us, and we began chuckling when we realized the other three were still oblivious, still screwing around with the fire. It was John's first trip, but he was quiet, soft-spoken, and wise. He moved himself closer to Pete and myself and seemed to gain strength from our wicked, bonfire-lit smiles. We passed him the pipe and he took a baby hit from it.

I was tripping balls now. I could see deeply into each and every one of my friends' lives. I felt very judgmental at times. I could see how childish we all were acting, and how little we knew. The fire seemed to leap out onto us in a dancing red visual display. The long wooden pipe stretched and shrank. I could no longer feel the jittery begging of the high, nor the buzz from the pot. A strong glow seemed to be coming out from inside me and pulsating every part of my body. I saw blurred tracers when I moved my arms and I began flailing them around in a sort of drunken state to intensify the tracers. I remember throwing the elongating and shrinking pipe to the ground and saying, 'This is just like Alice in Wonderland!' I looked at my cell phone to check the time. The digital numbers seemed to morph into an Elven language I couldn't understand. After a few minutes more of straining to figure out the time, I realized I was more fascinated by the lighted phone display than anything. I saw the names and numbers in the phone book of my family and friends, and emotion surged through my body. I wished they could all be with me by the fire. I thought of my dad, who no longer did drugs, but he could almost be there with me through his love. It was freakin' intense. I could have tripped out for what seemed like hours just imagining the thoughts and feelings of my loved ones.

Nate shouts, 'Dude, it's like 8:30, am I supposed to be tripping yet?' I immediately burst out laughing and fell to the ground. I began laughing deeply from inside myself uncontrollably, just at the thought of him not realizing that he was really high and hallucinating profusely. After almost five minutes of side splitting chuckles, I was able to regain some sanity and steadied myself on the sand. Then Stephen rushes over to me and he says, ' Oh my gosh Willie, are you O.K., you're crying!' I guess I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my cheeks. I roared into another fit of hysterical laughter, this time at the thought of Stephen's concern for me. The visuals were pouring out all around me. My friends faces swirled and the dark forest behind me seemed to be the most paranoid and evil place for me to venture into. I could hear auditory hallucinations of Pete's laughter echoing as well. I was really starting to freak Nate and Steve out now, who were looking at me like I was gonna O.D. This of course only fueled my hysteria more and I was even starting to cackle. Nate was shaking me kinda violently going, 'Dude, pull yourself together, I don't want to have to take you to the ER!' Pete shoots me a strange look and I snap out of it. The ground seems to rumble a little and things get more serious.

My speech is slurred, but I was able to help Nate and Steve gain some insight to their trips. I showed them the way by explaining how crazy my body high felt and the shapes of the hallucinations I was seeing. I told them that we were all in this together and I wouldn't let them have a bad trip. This reassured them and they didn't look quite as scared. John expressed that he couldn't understand how Pete and I would just lose it one minute, then be in control the next. It was like the newbies always want to have control of things during the trip, and the masters just let things flow. They were afraid to embarrass themselves by tripping too hard, and I'll bet that's pretty paranoid.

As the night wore on, chaotic things began happening. We went to a drum circle hosted by a bunch of Trustafarian surfers a little further down the beach. The vibe was fake and I could feel it. They weren't in our mushroom world and they had no natural rhythm. My visual colors changed from happy bright reds and oranges with swirling tie dye patterns to sad dark blue and grey melting. I felt feelings of power and strength to get away. They didn't want us to leave, and it felt good to be wanted, but the mushrooms lead us away. The sea spray felt strong. We tore our clothing off and ran into the ice cold water. I felt the searing heat of the mushrooms inside me making it possible and I couldn't believe I was in the water. I felt paranoid that I would drown because I was high, but realized that my muscles were more responsive than ever, and I had almost supernatural strength. I flashed back to when I was three years old, swimming in the same water, and I was truly alive.

We returned to the steam hut, and it worked great. I felt the Psilocybin sweating out of my pores. It was now daylight out, and I was about half sober. Deep thoughts of the universe and spirituality overcame me despite the fact that most of my visuals had now worn off. Nate had found Stephen, who had been lost in the woods half the night. But Stephen swore that he wasn't lost and had a great time exploring on his own with his headlamp.

I had a huge appetite that morning. We all cooked breakfast together and smoked plenty of pot to ease our somewhat sore muscles and increase appetite. The pot brought back mild flashbacks and insight to the trip. I had blacked out more than I thought, and my friends described me running into the forest and having conversations with sleepy and drunk campers before they could pull me back to our fire.

To sum it all up it I'd give the trip a B+ because the coast is beautiful, we had a sense of security in the group, and I had Pete, and John was a natural. Nate kinda freaked and wore my trip down a little with his aggressive and paranoid behavior, but it was a good introduction for a newbie.

A wild head and body trip!

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 60464
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 2, 2018	Views: 990
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