Dream Trail

Eric Travers never imagined taking a three-week hiking trip through the wilderness. At twenty-seven, and several months after an unexpected breakup with his girlfriend, he was comfortably cocooned in his desk job at the Crandall Insurance Agency in Binghamton, NY, biding his time, yearning for spring and waiting for his life to blossom once again.

Then the weird dreams started. Images of lush, tree-covered mountains, ghostly apparitions and shamrocks inscribed with a puzzling symbol began to invade his sleep. He encountered a mysterious trio of fellow hikers and heard a vaguely familiar song from the 1970s playing in the background while walking in long, lazy circles above the treetops. He was driving himself crazy trying to decipher his nighttime visions yet felt drawn to a trail he knew nothing about, though all the while wondering if he was simply going mad.

So, he decided that the only way to solve this mystery was to temporarily leave his job, sling on a backpack and literally follow the trail to wherever it might lead. But after meeting others along the way who shared many aspects of his unusual story, the mystery only deepened as each footstep drew them closer to their destination and to a shadowy figure that suddenly haunted their latest round of dreams while on the trail.

Though he can't claim to be even a novice backpacker, Thomas J. Prestopnik was easily inspired by others who are and wrote this backpacking novel with a dash of mystery to fulfill his true passion, telling a story. He is also the author of several other novels including "Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web", a Tolkien-inspired epic fantasy in three volumes.