Stybarrow Dodd

Sticks Pass is named after a line of tall wooden stakes that once marked the way over. They could still be seen in 1928 and had gone by the 1950s. The bridleway climbs to 745 metres just south of Stybarrow Dodd, higher than any other bridleway pass in the Lake District, and it makes the easiest way up from the west.

Park at the small car park at Legburthwaite, near Stanah, at the southern end of St John's in the Vale. Walk the lane to Stanah Farm, cross the Thirlmere water leat and Stanah Gill by a bridge, and climb the steep path beside the gill. Past a sheepfold, it goes up a broad ridge to the top of the pass, and from there grass slopes lead north to the summit. The path is good most of the way and there is no scrambling. It is about 3.7 km with 680 metres of climbing to the top.

From Glenridding you can reach the pass by the Greenside mine road, and from Dockray or High Row you can come in through Deepdale or along Hart Side.

The top is a broad grassy dome with two summits about 300 metres apart. The south west one, at 840 metres, is on the ridge path. The true summit, at 843 metres, is off to the north east, with a small cairn with a piece of slate on it and a wind shelter built from an old wall. The main path skirts round it, so you have to walk over to reach the top. From there you can see much of Lakeland, including Skiddaw, Blencathra, Great Gable, Helvellyn and the Far Eastern Fells.

The ridge carries on north over Watson's Dodd and Great Dodd, the walk known as the Dodds.