Tom, Peter and I joined the Hudson Valley Hikers doing a loop of Dial, Nippletop, Colvin and Blake. Before we got to Bears Den Peter and I found the hiking pace too fast for some reason so we detached ourselves from the group. We continued at our own pace over the three peaks then out to Lake road without doing the o/b of Colvin and Blake. We got our best views from Nippletop while eating our lunch. Got a clear view of Colvin and Blake in the foreground and Skylight and Marcy further back. Marcy looked like it had some fresh snow on top since our visit three days ago. To our right the ridge of Sawteeth to Gothics and the Wolf Jaws were in the clouds. I forgot how steep the drop is from the junction below Nippletop to the junction with the trail out to Blake. From there on the trail got more mellow. The whole day the trails were way more drier than the trails out of Marcy Dam/Lake Colden area.