The first wilderness part of the Northville Placid Trail is remarkably steep for this part of Adirondacks, climbing 700 feet over a ridge on the first mile, then dropping down 100 feet to Mud Lake over a half mile, then over the next four miles you lose about 550 feet elevation until you reach West Stoney Creek and the lean-to.

https://andyarthur.org/shaker-mountain

https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/100874.html

This map shows the Northville - Placid Trail from where it leaves the road in Benson up to the remote Canary Pond in the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest.