DOSE:	2 hits	oral	LSD	(blotter / tab)
	1 g	smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

83 kg

Reconnecting With Reality

This is the first experience report I write although I've read many. I've been a psychonaut for quite some time and I figured that the story might be interesting for others as well.

Set and Setting

Once a year we travel to the edge of civilization with a group of close friends and have a trip in the forest. This time we went to a truly amazing place: one of the last remaining old-growth forests in the country where we live. We rented a small mountain cottage that overlooks the forest (and the valley below). The place is simple, but it is perfect for our purposes, and it also has two stories (with two balconies). After we spent a night there we set off the next morning. We walked for a while till we left the town then we decided to start the trip under the shade of an old and twisted tree. I took 2 tabs, one of my friends took 1.5, and the third one ate mushrooms. Our fourth friend was there to tripsit us.

The Chromatic Forest

After we left the old tree, we found the path that we were looking for (we planned it in advance): one that goes up a hill. I've learned in the past that if there is a moderate amount of exertion (climbing) then the visuals are a bit dampened. This time the first thing I noticed is that everything became hilarious. There were no visuals, but we all started laughing about really mundane things. There was a huge rain the previous day and everything was full of mushrooms, and also small bugs. Every time we found either (a bug or mushroom) we started making jokes about them and laughed. As we went deeper into the forest I noticed that the path started to have a chromatic aberration effect. This is usually something that I experience during the ramp-up phase (and sometimes it doesn't go beyond that).

As we kept walking we started talking about food. We didn't eat much in the morning and I always bring comfort food (and not much else). This time I had fruit puree pouches, muesli bars dipped in chocolate, energy drinks, and protein bars. I remember that I brought one that had pistachio flavoring because I was curious about it and one of my friends really liked it. - This became a meme during the trip as the pistachio bar was being passed around. - One of my friends suggested taking a bite of something so I opened my bag and took the first thing that I found in it: a muesli bar dipped in white chocolate. "Try it" he said as if he knew something. As soon as I took a bite I felt a flavor explosion in my mouth. The sweetness was so overwhelming that I was barely able to eat the bar, in fact, I kept holding it for a very long time sometimes putting it in a pocket just to get it out later to take a bite. I started laughing like a maniac while my friend said "Right?". I said "Right" while I could barely contain myself.

At this point, I noted that no matter how high I am my legs still work automatically. This made them laugh again. Our laughter echoed through the forest. Just as I was listening to the echo I noticed that the path changed. It was a dirt path with lots of small pebbles on it. I realized that as I was looking at it the color changed from brown to white...then to yellow, and orange. As I progressed I started to see bands of colors perpendicular to my view. The sequence followed the colors of the rainbow. I became engulfed by these amazing colors and when I looked up to mention this to the others I realized that the whole forest is composed of weird objects all having the previously mentioned chromatic aberration effect. Funnily enough, the trees remained regular trees, but the other smaller plans became elongated and at the edges, they had small round shapes, like eyes.

Pistachio Shrooms (interlude)

Eventually, we arrived at a slope that led deeper into the forest and there was a small path to our right that didn't lead anywhere. We decided to take a look. As we were exploring the area I noticed small brown stones on the ground. I looked closely at them and I realized that they were mushrooms. "Stealth shrooms." one of my friends said. He picked one and took a look at it. It was brown at the top and light green at the bottom and the bottom of its cap looked like a sponge! (they were porcini mushrooms) We started joking about the similarities between the pistachio protein bar and the mushrooms. Somebody said that maybe their taste is similar too, but we didn't take a bite as nobody knew whether they were edible or not. We also found some other weird shrooms (parasol, coral, and some others) and stayed there for a while as we examined them. Then we finally decided to go back to the path and continue our journey...

Crossroads

At this point, I could barely contain myself. I was either laughing manically about something totally mundane, staring at the rainbow stripes, or munching something from my bag. We arrived at an abandoned house where the path split. We were just contemplating whether we should go right or left when we heard that a car was coming. My friends hid behind the house but for some reason, I stayed there. It was an SUV with 3 guys in it. They stopped and asked for directions...at least I think that's what they asked. The guy sitting next to the driver looked at me in a weird way and I suddenly had this thought that they are either poachers or police agents in disguise. They asked where they can get out of the forest as they are lost. This didn't make sense to me and it seemed like a question that they only asked to gauge whether I can talk properly or not. I tried to focus as hard as I could and told them to keep going up (even though I didn't remember where that road would take them). Then my friend arrived and helped me talk us out of this. They left and I was a bit puzzled, and a little bit soberer. After a few moments, I noticed that the abandoned building had really weird colors. It looked as if it had camouflage colors applied to it. I tried to get into the house, but it was locked. Then we decided to go left.

Enter the Valley

To our amazement, the long and winding road led us up to an amazingly huge valley that had long grass and a few trees. It was surrounded by the forest, and we could see the hilltops around us. The road led further up and out of the valley. As we came out of the forest we saw sunlight and I felt the warm wind blow against my face. It felt as if a great weight was lifted from my shoulders and I became euphoric. The area looked as if it was cut out from a fairy tale.

The road in front of us was long and relatively straight and we started going through the valley. I just noticed that even though we're walking we're not making progress. The road seemed to become longer and longer as we were trying to get to the other side so we decided to wander off of it to the left and make a small camp instead.

The Camp

We brought a huge blanket with us and we rolled it out like a carpet and sat on it. Everybody put their bags down and started to look around the area. Next to us was the forest on the left, and the road on our right (that we were walking on up until now).

Just as I put my bag down I realized that there was something in my pocket. It was a fruit puree that I prepared for myself a while ago. I left it there because I knew that I'll forget about it quickly and I'd be surprised (and happy) to find it later. We talked about this with one of my friends and we discussed how fun it is to leave things for future you to discover.

I stood up. I realized that I chose the right clothes for the environment as my pants and my jumper were really comfortable. I had one problem though: the wind was blowing and I started to feel the cold so I put on a hat (I kept putting this hat on and off as it was either too hot or too cold.)...then as I was listening to the wind I noticed that it wasn't the wind, but a machine of some sort that emitted this throbbing or pulsating sound. As I was looking for the source of the sound I figured out that it is reality itself that's pulsating and each pulse is in fact a new "frame" of reality. The whole world started to slow down around me as I was concentrating on the sound of the "reality machine". I listened to it for a very long time and I discovered that the frequency is changing. Sometimes it was very fast, then it started to slowly wind down, just to go back up a few moments later. I turned around and one of my friends said "You wanted to take a piss". I remembered that I talked about this at some point so I turned and started walking towards the forest...then I totally forgot what I wanted to do and pulled out another muesli bar instead and started chewing. Just as my memory ceased to exist one of my friends came to me and said "Let's go".

First Contact

I went to the trees and stood there for a while. My friend sat down. I knew that this was a peak experience for him as he always withdraws and sits down somewhere so I let him be. I walked to a tree that looked really interesting. It was in fact two trees that were twisted around each other. They looked like a double helix. I suddenly felt an urge to touch it. The muesli bar was gone. Just as I was getting closer to the tree things in my field of view started to change. The surfaces started to twist into a fractal shape and they started moving, imploding into themselves. I usually see colorful shapes, and recursive fractals, but this time there were few extra colors, and the 3 dimensions of space became distorted. I knew that if I touched that tree something significant will happen.

I reached out and put my palm on the tree. What I felt was really hard to put into words. All my senses became overloaded with sensory data. Feelings, images, memories. The depth of it was impossible to fathom. It was like an immense flash of light infused with experiences gathered through hundreds of years. At that point, I wasn't sure what "I" meant anymore. As I tried to calm myself down and tried to interpret what was happening I realized that I'm no longer me, but I'm part of something. I felt the wind blowing through the branches of the tree, and I also felt as if I was moved by it. I was the tree, but I was also myself at the same time. The lines of "meness" became blurry while I was trying to figure out how to define myself. I felt a connection to all the things around me including the tree, the neighboring trees, all the small animals scurrying under the leaves, and even the wind itself. I(we) were curious but also exhausted from the exchange. I(we) also felt sadness and harmony at the same time. I couldn't figure out where these feelings were coming from, but I wanted to understand them. My trip just became a mission (or a trial if you will) to figure out what just happened. Just as I was thinking about this I became me again and I withdrew my hand. I stood there for a few moments then I reached out with both hands.

This time I felt something similar. It was like some sort of primordial energy was flowing through me. I could tap into it and when I did I saw images and felt things that I couldn't interpret. I was shaking a bit as I was struggling with the sensory overload. Then suddenly I became calm, and something switched. Even though my eyes were closed I saw the trees around me, but they were made of pure technicolor energy. All the small details were gone, and I was part of this glorious living thing. My ego disappeared again and I felt the same harmony as before. I knew that there is something that I need to learn but I wasn't sure what it was. I opened my eyes and stepped away from the tree. My friend was gone so I decided to go back to the camp (and take that piss I really had to).

Overload

After I came out of the forest and back into the Camp I found my friends there talking about something. I reached for my bag and took out a t-shirt so that I can see what other foods are still there. At this point, somebody gave me the pistachio-flavored protein bar. I suddenly felt incapable of managing the things I was trying to do as if the task queue in my brain just disappeared. I felt that I'm incapable of doing anything that a regular human has to do like eating, holding onto objects, or talking. All these concepts felt alien to me. All these previously mundane things became a struggle. Luckily one of my friends realized this and put my things back in my bag. I was overjoyed with this newfound freedom and started laughing. I looked at the clouds and they seemed to be continuously spinning around like a kaleidoscope. People started talking around me and I started to become frustrated. I wasn't able to talk and I couldn't withstand other people talking. I stood up and walked away so that I don't have to listen. The "reality engine" came back and I started to see waves of frames in my field of view. I wandered aimlessly and I sometimes crouched to examine plants or small animals.

After a while, one of my friends came to me and I suddenly felt relatively normal again. The peak has passed and I was ready to move on and look for the answers to the tree enigma. We went back to the road and started strolling towards the far end. After a while, we went off the road again, to the right and my friends went into the forest. I just stood there gazing at the meadow.

On the Hunt (interlude)

As I stood next to the road I felt connected again. I didn't touch anything but suddenly I had a keen sense of smell, and I was able to hear my friends moving in the forest. They were very far away. I felt like an animal, a hunter that was stalking its prey. I started moving towards the forest silently. I was able to hear what they were talking about even though they were far away. I was also able to smell them. As I got closer to them I was prowling in the bushes so that they wouldn't notice my approach. I then walked out to the path where they were and suddenly the animalness was gone, and I reconnected with the group.

The Choir of Trees

We came out of the forest and back into the meadow. As I looked left I saw a small plateau. At the closest edge of it, there was a pair of trees. We went there to check them out. I touched both and I practiced connecting to them. I again felt the unfathomable depth, but this time it wasn't as intense as before. My friends stayed there as I walked up to the plateau. I looked around and I saw tall trees in a circle around it. I was standing at the focal point. The wind died down, and the reality machine ceased to pulsate. It was silence. I focused on each tree one by one and I felt that they have something to say to me. The sounds became distorted as if I was in a cave. I heard birds and other animals moving around those trees, and I also heard the trees themselves...talking. I couldn't understand what they were saying but it felt as if they were trying to communicate with me. It sounded as if heavy objects were hitting the bark of the trees in quick succession repeatedly. I stood there for a very long time and I again felt a connection, but this time it was distant and dim and it also had an eerie vibe around it may be because of how my hearing changed. Unable to interpret the events I turned around and went back to my friends.

Exploring the Two Towers

As I approached them I saw that they were looking around in amazement. One of them told me "Take a look" as he was pointing to the distance. I looked at it and the whole forest started to move. The trees changed their shape and I saw them as fractals. Their canopies moved faster than the parts below them. I looked around the valley from left to right and I saw all of them moving in unison. They were dancing to the tune of the reality machine. I spotted two huge trees that stood next to each other. One was broken in half, but the other one seemed intact. We decided to check them out.

When we arrived at the trees we saw that the other one that looked OK from the distance was damaged. It was covered in fungus and other parasites. The other tree looked as if it was hit by lightning and its parts were scattered in the dirt. The trees were much taller than all the rest and the whole thing looked as if some external force decided that they were becoming too tall. Just as I was looking at the remains I saw some man-made structures in the distance. I went closer and looked around. There was a circle of trees around the structures and one of them stood out. I touched it and I felt the connection yet again, but this time there was some sort of communication. Suddenly a thought struck me. What if the default state of humans is connectedness and harmony with nature? What if we were meant to be the guides for all the plants and creatures? It seems that at some point we chose technology over this and lost our ability to be connected to the rest of the natural world. I never thought about this possibility before and I was happy that I learned something new. Every trip is a learning opportunity, and now my mission was complete. As I was contemplating the implications of my discovery one of my friends said that we should go back to our house as our sitter has to go home before it gets dark, so we turned around and went back to the road.

Giger Forest

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, but as we walked back (on another road) we observed some trees that looked horrendous. Some of them were struck by lightning, some were just so old and frail that I had the feeling that they could topple at any moment. We stopped and observed some of these and one of my friends said that now he understands Giger's artwork. He must have gathered some inspiration from trees like these: even though they are half-dead they still cling to life and try to get the most out of the unfortunate situation. There was one that toppled, but its roots were still in the ground and it grew new branches from the sides. Some of the dead parts were overgrown by mushrooms, and the whole thing looked like a painting made by Giger.

Unwind in Technicolor

As we were getting closer to the house I resumed staring at the ground and the technicolor rainbow path returned. By the time we got back, everything else had this weird coloring effect, but the trees stopped moving, and I stopped seeing the fractals too. We sat down at the table and the world settled to a resting state just as I did.

Exp Year: 2022	ExpID: 116711
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 36
Published: Oct 16, 2022	Views: 562
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
LSD (2), Cannabis (1) : Nature / Outdoors (23), General (1), Small Group (2-9) (17)