A smooth slope falls eastward from Scales Fell to the col of Mousthwaite Comb at 1,425 feet (434 m).

In the intervening time the Glenderamackin has run for six miles, surrounding Souther Fell on three sides like a moat.

At the southern end, on the turn of the ridge, is the rockier slope of Knotts, falling toward the main Keswick to Penrith road.

The western side of the fell stands above the enclosed valley of the upper Glenderamackin, looking across to Bannerdale Crags.

Souther Fell has two principal tops and each stands above a patch of scree and rock on this face.

One scientific explanation offered was that this was some bizarre mirage or reflection of the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie, that day exercising on the Scottish coast,[2] while another explanation suggests that the sighting was originally misidentifying the smoke from Germanic bonfire rituals, with the story of the "Spectral Army" evolving over the years through transmission and adaptation in the popular press.

The Lakeland view peeps around the looming presence of Blencathra, taking in Great Gable, the Scafells, the nearer Helvellyn range and a portion of the Far Eastern Fells.