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Mountain hikes & routes

View of Buttermere – Innominate Tarn loop from Gatesgarth

Routes

Mountain hikes & routes

View of Buttermere – Innominate Tarn loop from Gatesgarth

Moderate

5.0

(1)

hikers

View of Buttermere – Innominate Tarn loop from Gatesgarth

03:02

7.42km

490m

Mountaineering

Moderate mountaineering route. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: April 16, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Lake District National Park

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

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527 m

View of Buttermere

Highlight • Viewpoint

Stunning vantage point for photos either towards Buttermere or Fleetwith Pike.

Tip by

717 m

Alfred Wainwrights final resting place as written in his books “These are his own words, taken from his Western Fells guidebook - "All I ask for, at the end, is a last long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn, on Haystacks, where the water gently laps the gravelly shore and the heather blooms and Pillar and Gable keep unfailing watch. A quiet place, a lonely place. I shall go to it, for the last time, and be carried: someone who knew me in life will take me and empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone. And if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me."

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1.20 km

Scarth Gap

Highlight (Segment) • Trail

Scarth Gap is a great, gradual ascent from Buttermere or Ennerdale. Turn left at the cairn that marks the top of the pass to ascend Haystacks or turn right to ascend Seat and on to High Crag

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2.28 km

Scarth Gap Pass

Highlight • Mountain Pass

Scarth Gap is the 1,460-foot (445 m) high mountain pass between beautiful Buttermere and tranquil Ennerdale in the Western Lake District. It makes use of the col between the towering High Crag and Haystacks, Wainwright's favourite fell and final resting place.

From the Gap, it's an entertaining clamber to Haystacks' summit or a steep, rocky pull up onto High Crag. Energetic hikers also use the pass to reach the remote and mighty Wainwright summit of Pillar from Gatesgarth, a big but rewarding undertaking.

Tip by

2.57 km

View of Buttermere from Haystacks

Highlight • Lake

You can get to the viewpoint a couple different ways. If you turn left just before the top onto the smaller path, there is a part you can do some scrambling on.

Tip by

3.39 km

Innominate Tarn

Highlight • Lake

Innominate Tarn on Haystacks is where Alfred Wainwrights ashes were scattered. These are his own words, taken from his Western Fells guidebook - "All I ask for, at the end, is a last long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn, on Haystacks, where the water gently laps the gravelly shore and the heather blooms and Pillar and Gable keep unfailing watch. A quiet place, a lonely place. I shall go to it, for the last time, and be carried: someone who knew me in life will take me and empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone. And if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me."

Tip by

3.66 km