I went back out with my flashlight and saw the same hundreds of eyes. Fucking gators.

Sober, at night, in the desert: Hundreds of eyes, like stars in the sky. Fucking spiders.

Mushrooms can give you a pretty bad trip as well,

I agree.

at least it doesn't last as long as acid.

Also, one can also mitigate the effects with induced vomiting, alcohol, or sleep. A batch of shrooms never has byproducts or laced drugs. If they're particularly strong then grind them up, weigh doses, and encapsulate.

I took my last dose of LSD more than twenty years ago. Everyone shouldn't choose as I do because they're not me. My only intent is people make wiser choices.

My advice for either one is make sure you have people around that you love and trust - being alone or being with strangers can be bad news.

Far more important than squabbles over which one is better to start with. I was an adolescent that took what was in front of me while back of car camping with friends, a few acting as babysitters.