Thanks oldboyscout. A fair criticism to be sure. I admit that although I always carry a PFD, I pretty much only wear it when I sense an elevated risk of capsizing. I'm certainly not interested in debating the relative weaknesses of this choice, since I'm well aware how quickly a paddling situation can change from calm to hairy -- a reality that came to bear on day 5 of this trip. It's simply a long-lived habit that happens never to have resulted in calamity, no doubt more by luck than skill. So suffice to say you are right and I was wrong not to wear it, and perhaps more wrong still to post such footage on a public site. I'll have to think about that going forward. 
 

Thanks solos--nice to know the attention to detail is paying off in the edit. This is actually upper Maple Creek . . . or was that a joke because of the endless alder LOL? I believe the official Alder Creek runs into Longer Lake from the west. 

I started with the kayak paddle and soon became completely frustrated as the alders closed in overhead and there wasn't enough room to maneuver the kayak paddle. In the end I was much happier with the canoe paddle anyway--much easier to handle steering strokes.  

Thanks Martin! Kind comments much appreciated. 
. . . And now I'm going to bump your thread ahead of mine, since it's a better video LOL

I went through Maple in 2011 and I'm glad to see that it's still an absolute gong show. We still tell stories about that day.

5 meters from the final portage into One Mile my stern man put me into an alder at chest height which knocked me all the way back into the rear of the canoe and sunk it and all of our gear in stank water.  

@jvermast: Yikes!! I had a few close calls with the overhangs but nothing quite like that!! But it's true--those experiences always make for the best stories later.

@AlgonquinLakes: Thanks for the info. I got that same answer from another viewer so I'll take it as fact at this point! The big mystery to me now is how did it get where it was -- i.e., I presume something was feeding on it, but what? 

OK so I'll be a pedantic PITA here and comment on terminology.  Briefly, a ribosome is a small particle inside a living cell, and  is the site where messenger RNA directs protein synthesis out of individual amino acids.  A rhizome (the  item in question above) is a modified plant stem that grows horizontally under the earth (or in this case, water) and puts out shoots and adventitious roots (the little white wormy-looking things).  Wikipedia will tell you more than you'd ever want to know about both of them.

The water lily rhizomes really are impressive in their size and bizarre appearance - they're the "Algonquin anacondas", for sure.