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Peeling Clouds and Dancing Trees
LSD
Citation:   vertis syers. "Peeling Clouds and Dancing Trees: An Experience with LSD (exp3443)". Erowid.org. Aug 20, 2001. erowid.org/exp/3443

 
DOSE:
2 hits oral LSD (blotter / tab)
BODY WEIGHT: 160 lb
What have we ever truly expected in the few moments before ingesting LSD?? We might prepare physical settings that surround us with colorful posters, a scenic journey through forestland, or mellow tunes & rhythm. My experience began with no mental or physical preparation whatsoever.

Towards the end of my junior year in high school the weather started to ease from winters embrace. Snow melted everywhere and an unusually humid breeze whistled through tall pines. Life slowly began to breathe and flow in my small mountain town once again. This beautiful day gave my friend and I the itch to go hiking up in the hills. We stopped at a friend's house along the way to see if they wanted to come. The three of them agreed and we all decided to go to an abandoned mine and explore. One of them offered my friend and I some acid. I had not expected to trip that day but I was handed two hits of white blotter. I had tripped many times previously so I threw the paper into my mouth. I thought with only two hits I would know what to expect. I was eager to go hiking.

It took us only 20 minutes to reach the mine by an uphill trail. White mica laden quartz rocks lay everywhere, reflecting sunlight in every direction around us. An entrance located near the peak of the mountain seemed just what we had hoped for. The mineshaft stood nearly 20 feet high and went about 120 feet into the mountain.

30 minutes went by and I felt nothing yet. Our party ventured inside and the cool air revived our bodies. We walked all the way to the end of the tunnel. Water dripped everywhere, bouncing off rocks above and splattering our faces. I looked at my watch and it had been 45 minutes. I remembered again taking acid and a strange feeling overcame me. 'How could I forget about eating acid?' I thought to myself. I urged my friend to follow me back outside because the trip began to rise. I reached the mouth of the tunnel and I was astonished at what I felt and saw at that moment.

I realized that in less than in one hour after ingestion I was seeing more visuals and movement than in peaks of past trips. I could see for miles across the tops of other hills. The pine trees liquefied on the distant hills. The scheme swirled and bounced into a massive blanket of green. Clouds peeled and bounced to the same rhythm as the flow of green before me. The air thickened into an almost gel-like substance. It felt hard to breathe and walk through the thickness. My skin was wet and sticky. I reached down to pick up a piece of quartz rock. I realized my robotic movements and how simplified my thought process had become. I stood up and saw everything was moving in one rhythm trapped inside congruent fractal geometric patterns. I threw the rock and its white tracer lingered long after the rock had landed. My friends and I decided to throw some rocks off the cliff ledge for a while. The tracers were splendid in length and brightness. Once again I looked at my watch and decided that I was tripping my hardest ever, only minutes after the first hour. I then became frightened and began to ponder, 'how long and intense is my trip going to be?'

We collected and ventured into the main processing building for rocks and stone. As a massive building it stood 6 stories high with a solid wooden frame structure. Walking inside I noticed dust and rocks swirling into the same fractal geometrics as the trees. The grains on the lumber flowed like wet paint applied by an invisible brush or roller. The lines inside of the wood shone in a brilliant iridescent green and blue. I was continuing to get surges of psychedelic energy that told me I was still on the rise of my trip. After walking around some more we went back to the vehicles. My trip had only started and I knew that it was going to be a very long night.

The ride back to my friend’s house only took 10 minutes and it was almost erotic. The vehicle floated around every corner and the blackness of the asphalt never stopped expanding. Anxiety from this set in to me and it infested my tonal as I became a lost cause. There was no turning back now. I began to forget what it was like to be normal. I felt like I had been tripping my entire life and I knew no different. I knew that I must have been climaxing at that point. I had no grounds on what to compare my state to, reality seemed a dream I wanted to return to.

My friend, (who was on the same dosage, but not tripping as hard as me), took me to a hill with a rocky outlook. From that vantage point I saw mist and low clouds begin to sweep across the tree tops. It looked like rain was to come. We sat and I told my friend that the trip was too intense and I wanted to live no longer. I looked up and saw unusually low fog blowing from left to right across the tree line. The fog took the tops of trees right off and scattered them in the air I imagined it looked like a dandy lion would when blown upon, sending airborne chutes aloft.

My tonal weakened and I walked back down to the house, grabbed a guitar and plucked my death song. A patch in the grass looked comfortable to die in. I played the slow three note song like it was my own funeral. Another good friend of mine showed up and I embraced him with a hug. He was shocked at such a move until he saw my eyes and facial expression. I was mournful for myself. I thought it would be the last time we would ever meet.

My grass patch called me. I wanted to lay down and end it all. I could not talk any more and I was expressing sadness, anxiety, fear and dumbfoundedness all at once. Several hours of this plateau and it diminished into a state of drunkenness from keg beer. I found myself again surrounded by friends, a beer in my hand and walking about some sort of party. It amazed me how I eased back into reality when I thought it just a dream to only be visited. These feelings stayed inside of me for many months afterwards. I was certain that I had died.

Timothy Leary once wrote that a trip is a dying experience of certain things such as emotion, or a person’s ego. For me it was my life. I have never stopped using acid for it can be a learning experience, bad or good.

I seethe upon peeling clouds, bouncing trees and lines of saturation. I am crispened into intricate frames of fractal geometric patterns.

Exp Year: 1997ExpID: 3443
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 20, 2001Views: 10,442
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LSD (2) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Nature / Outdoors (23), Difficult Experiences (5), General (1)

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