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My son (23) and I left the Garden with full packs at about 5:00 pm Saturday for the hike to Big Slide, planning to camp somewhere along the way. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip up and over the Brothers, having terriffic views up the Johns Brook valley and checking out the Range for an upcoming Fall traverse. We're hoping to ascend via RoosterComb, do the whole range, and exit via Opalescent River to Lake Colden and Avalanche lake to ADK Loj. We camped off the trail after the 3rd Brother, and on Sunday hiked the final .9 miles to the summit of Big Slide. Great Views most of the way around, including view east to Lake Champlain, including the entire Green Mountain chain including Mt. Mansfield and Camel's Hump and south as far as the Rutland area ( Mt. Carmel and Blue Ridge). After about an hour on top, we retraced our steps and made it back to the Garden by about 11:00 am. After a brief discussion about bearproof cannisters with some 'bear' people ( sorry, forgot the name of their organisation) we went the parking area off Rt. 73 for the hike to Noonmark. We added harnesses, rock shoes, rope and hardware for rock climbing at the summit of Noonmark. After a slow, hot climb to the top of Noonmark we enjoyed the views and discussions with fellow hikers on the top. Later enjoyed the sunset over the Wolfjaws, and observed how the higher peaks create their own clouds. I assume that moisture laden air, especially from the Johns Brook valley rises, or is drawn, up the slopes where it meets colder air, condenses, and becomes cloud. We saw this on Dix, Dial, Haystack, and Marcy. There were virtually no other clouds anywhere else except over the Champlain Valley. Very enjoyable experience and imformative too. We set up our tent off the summit, and experienced a VERY windy night; terriffically noisy flapping tent most of the night, so, little sleep as a result. Altogether a great experience. Did some climbing on the cliffs, and then descended by 11:00 for the trip back home to Pa.