On August 10th, 2019, 718 Outdoors led a group of campers north to Beacon, NY to hike, swim and camp at Malouf’s Mountain Campground

Saturday, August 10th Train Ride Up

The group met at Grand Central Station for the 8:45am train north to Beacon, NY. The ride was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

At Beacon, were were picked up by the Malouf shuttle. Since the site is a hike-in facility only, you have to choose the trailhead you want to hike in from. The crew from Malouf’s will take any gear you don’t want to hike with to your campsite for you.

We chose a four mile hike, and I personally chose to carry in all of my gear as I wanted to test out my new ULA Equipment CDT Pack.

Saturday, August 10th Hike In

On paper, the hike looked like a breeze (they always look easy on those small hand-held maps). The reality was a pretty vigorous climb of about 1,200 feet of elevation gain, four miles of hiking in just under 3 hours.

The hike features a good about of climbing, some of it is an actual scramble up rocks. My decision to carry my 20 lbs pack was certainly called into question.

About 1 hour in, we made it to a summit at 1,400’ and had a great view of the Hudson River to the West.

After climbing the peak, the hike continued with a fairly treacherous descent on rough, sharp and sometime loose rocks. This descent had many of us wishing for a good climb.

Camping

We arrived at Maloufs around 2pm or so. We signed in with the staff, and started the massive uphill trek to our articular sites.

At Malouf’s, they really go out of their way to make the stay enjoyable, from delivering firewood and even food to your site if ordered/requested. There are 2 types of sites here, Platform or Primitive. Our group had reserved a mix of both.

Sunday, August 11th Hike Out

Most campers opt for the 1.5 mile hike out to the trailhead to get picked up by shuttle bus for ride to the train station. We had our gear back at the Camp Office at 9:30am, and began our 1 hour hike out.