Vast, awesome, spectacular, immense. All those words weakly describe the Panhandle of Alaska. Southeast Alaska is truly a wilderness of islands. Over one thousand have names. Many smaller ones are nameless.

A few towns — Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, Haines, St. Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan — are all stops for the Alaska Marine Highway ferryboat and cruise ships. Most of the remaining 99 percent is untamed wilderness.

Recently, my wife Beth and I, along with Bobby and Carolyn Whiteside, spent three days in Wrangell. Wrangell would like to think that it’s a tourist town, but it’s not. The biggest attraction in this little hamlet of 1,200 people is the local Elks Lodge.

Of the total population, 600 are members of the lodge. It’s the social center for the locals and invited guests.

But Wrangell is a good jumping-off place for wild Alaskan adventures. Our primary purpose for the Wrangell stop was a boat trip to the Anan Bear and Wildlife Observatory. In August, Anan Creek fills up with spawning pink salmon and bears — both blacks and browns (grizzlies) — gather for pre-winter gorging on fresh salmon.

The boat ride from Wrangell to the mouth of Anan took about an hour. It was a spectacular ride. Seals, eagles, evergreen forest and snow capped mountains. It seemed like an endless panorama of the spectacular. But it was only the prelude to what we witnessed at Anan.

After anchoring the boat at the creek’s mouth our guide, Winston, led us along a narrow boardwalk for the half mile to the observatory. He carried a 7.mm rifle. Bear signs were everywhere. Diggings, scat, prints. You don’t linger on the trail. It’s dangerous.

Years ago only a muddy path led to the observatory that overlooks the rapids and falls where the bears do most of their fishing. The boardwalk has a story connected to it.

When Ronald Reagan finished his presidency, he and Nancy took a vacation to Southeast Alaska and visited the bear observatory at Anan. Nancy complained about the sloppy, muddy trail. Shortly after, the forest service found funds to build the boardwalk.

We reached the observation deck without encountering a bear on the walkway. But the platform was surrounded by black bears. Some were fishing. Some were eating fish. Others walked along fallen logs. A few were climbing trees. Others slept in the bushes near the gate to the deck.

We were all awe struck by the sights. And the sounds. As bears quarrelled over the salmon, they emitted deep growls and groans.

Due to a very weak pink salmon run on most of the creeks this year, more bears than usual had gathered at Anan. The salmon run on Anan was less than half its usual numbers but there were still plenty of fish to attract the bears.

After watching for several hours it became obvious that they have different personalities and abilities. Some were far better fishermen than others, just like people. Some got out in the current to fish. Some used their paws. Others put their heads underwater to clamp down on the salmon.

Others were more laid back. One of the largest was a bear the ranger called Gentle Ben. He was a good fisherman but the others always stole his fish. He never contended over his catch. Just give it up and go catch another one.

They came in all shapes and sizes. Big bears. Middle- sized bears. Older cubs. And baby bears. One sow was obviously still nursing.

Eagles and ravens were always watching for an opportunity to steal fish scraps from the bears. Lots of critters — humans, bears, eagles, and ravens — all depend on the annual salmon runs.

On a lower level, in front of the observation platform, is a camouflaged photo blind that puts you almost at eyeball level with the fishing bears. We spent time on both the upper deck and the lower blind. Both gave a unique prospective of the phenomenon of nature that was happening right in front of us.

But we had seen no brown bears and it was time to leave. Then, on the journey from the falls back to the boat, a big grizzly sow and two cubs were fishing on the creek across from us. We added plenty of brown bear photos to the hundreds of black bear images that we had snapped.

We all agreed that it had been the perfect day. Like our winter snowmobile trip to Yellowstone Park several years ago it will always stand out among many great outdoor memories.

Jim Darnell is outdoors writer for the Daily Record and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the Daily Record.