Holy smokes! There were bears up there? They didn't tell me about bears!
I did a similar trip, Mohave, in the Lake Timagami area through Alogonquin Provincial Park, with a YMCA group out of Rochester, NY. Great memories of that, shooting moderate rapids with Grumman canoes, long portages and cursed beavers, too. I think we were out for about 2 weeks on that trip and the skills learned (even though memories are a bit foggy) are invaluable.