There’s a ton of these where I live. Probably the most common tick, actually. They are extremely aggressive, especially in the fall. The larva is so small you can’t even tell they’re not a fleck of dirt until they move. So many of them can get on you at once I describe it as a “plume” of ticks.

Trimming trails doesn’t seem to prevent them from crawling across open ground climb on. I wouldn’t know it if I was allergic to mammal meat, but I’ve heard people having reactions to gelatin pill capsules and other sneaky things.

It sucks, but the alternative is I don’t experience the outdoors, so it’s just something to deal with and plan for. All my clothing is treated with permethrin. I’m basically in “tick mode” any time I’m walking around except in the dead of winter.