This was our first hike where hiking boots were optional and it went really well. Up until we got attacked by ticks! One of our hikers stepped on a tick bomb and had like 20 ticks crawling up from his feet. Then after he got them all off, everyone else started finding them. After that, we wrapped up pretty quickly because as you know if you’ve ever walked through a tick field, every little itch feels like a tick and the paranoia is exhausting. When we scouted this hike two weeks prior, no ticks. So, if you go, go as late as mid-May to avoid the same fate.