I continued on my hike up the John’s Creek trail. The meeting with the people at the cabin was disconcerting but now I was on the task at hand, which was getting up this creek.
I went into cruise mode for a couple miles and then came upon a young man resting on the side of the trail. He was sitting up against his pack and drinking water and eating what looked like a croissant.
Sure enough it was a croissant.
“”Hi!” I said. “How’s it going?”
“Good man, how about you.?”
“Good as well,” I replied.
“Where ya from man?”
“Schenectady.”
“I’m from Montreal, down in the states for a few days, relaxation.”
“Relaxation from what?”
“I’m a newspaperman, I write for a paper.”
“Cool!” I really did think that was cool, I’d like to write for a newspaper.
We “chewed the fat” for a few minutes.
He said, “What do you like to do other than hiking and backpacking”?
I thought about it and then said, “I play a lot of pickup basketball, nearly every day.”
“I play ball myself.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t think it was that big in Canada?”
“Yes, very big, you know basketball was invented by a Canadian.”
“No it wasn’t.”
“It sure was.”
“Bullshit, it was invented in Springfield , Mass. at Springfield College.”
“Yeah, and James Naismith, the inventor , was Canadian.”
“No shit.”
I had no idea. This was new to me.