Pine Ridge Trail: East Ash to Roberts Loop

It was a cool, overcast morning and I wanted to get out to do some hiking. I opted to head back to the Pine Ridge Trail. Today I would hike a new section: East Ash Road to the Roberts Loop. Last time I hiked the Pine Ridge Trail I had brought Rosie along and we pulled over 30 ticks off of her. I opted to go without her today. Even without her, ticks would be the theme of the day.

I parked my car just to the west of East Ash Road and hit the trail. Immediately, I found my first tick of the day.

I crossed East Ash Road and headed east.

I would be headed 7.3 miles to the Robert's Trail and then back again; 14.6 miles round-trip. Almost immediately I passed into the Pine Ridge National Recreation Area.

The trail here followed the bottom of a small canyon, 

filled with Eastern Red Columbine!

Besides columbine, there was spiderwort, pussytoes, and death Camas.

The trail climbed up out of the canyon and there were awesome, though overcast views.

Later in the day, I would pass the same scene, but with blue skies!

Up in the highlands, the trail followed a road for a short period and intersected with the Great Plains Trail.

Then the trail descended into another canyon. This one with some pretty steep drop-offs.

I traversed the slightly overgrown trail at the bottom of the canyon and enjoyed more columbines.

While the lush canyon was beautiful, the ticks were plentiful.

The spots on my pants are ticks!

Near the mouth of the canyon, a group of cattle watched me warily from a distance.

A sign located at the point where the trail leaves the canyon indicated the creek I had been following is called Cunningham Creek.

Here the trail followed a fence line for a bit.

Then, I started to climb up to the junction with the Roberts Loop. Views were pretty awesome!

I stopped at the junction with the Roberts Trail to take a break.

I pulled up the legs of my pants to do a tick check and did not appreciate what I found.

After pulling almost 60 ticks off of my legs, back, head, and other body parts, I turned around to make my way back to the start of my hike. Flowers observed on the way back included sego lily an white penstemon.

The sky cleared by the time I was in the homestretch of the hike and the views I had seen earlier seemed a bit cheerier with blue sky. 

I made it back to the car for the drive home. Along the way I pulled probably over 50 ticks off my body. It had been an enjoyable hike, but I probably won't return to the Pine Ridge until fall. There's just too many ticks right now.