People who have gone hiking recently: How bad are the ticks?

I’m a hiker who has been a little afraid of going out into the woods lately because I hate ticks. I've been in situations where I’ve been walking around and have found a few crawling on me. Even after going home and showering. Every time it freaks me out and I’m not sure I could handle it if it were any worse than that.

Ticks are supposed to be really bad this year. Has anyone experienced this firsthand?