Amarnath Yatra
Jai Baba Amarnath Barfani
This Holy Yatra Starts from Two Places...
PAHALGAM AND BALTAL
Pahalgam is 96 KM from Srinagar .This distance can be covered by car,bus or taxi. Pahalgam is known all over the world for its beauty. It is small town situated on the banks of Lidder River. It is surrounded by high mountains.
Starting my yatra from Pahalgam people were sent through a dedicated secured way in the protection of JKP (Jammu and Kashmir Police), BSF ( Border Security Force), CRPF ( Central Reserve Police Force ) and Indian ARMY.
Pahalgam is the base camp and this area is fully covered with Grill and 24 hrs surveillanced.
People have to walk for approx.100 meters to cross this way and to reach on road from here they can hire vehicles to Chandanwari.
hey here you can see some view of Pahalgam with me..........
River side
River view of pahalgam
Moving from Pahalgam to Chandanwari 16 KM by transport method you can hire mini buses and private cars and jeep to cover this 16 KM journey by bended roads, Many waterfalls will be there at both sides of the road. These falls are created by melting ice from the snow peaks. Lidder river will be flowing from Chandanwari towards Pahalgam. There is a small market where all essential items including medicines are available. You can get some few camera accessories and batteries for your gadgets in this market. Usually this market became more active before Amarnath Yatra which starts from end of June or July and continues till end of August.
At the end of the market there is a big Ice glacier here with a thick layer of ice. Water flows below the glacier. This is the ideal spot for tourist to enjoy snow even in end summer. Local made sledge is available here for skating over the ice. which gives you an awesome view of nature beautiful hills and another side lidder river flowing this way to chandanwari takes you on the height of 9500 feet after reaching at Chandanwari some people may feel some breathing issue due to low oxygen as compare to pahalgam.
During Amarnath yatra lord shiva devotee arranges bhandaras and langars on different different places on the way to cave. Yatris don't need to carry food with them but they must carry some medicines, Camphor, Glucose powder, Torche, Rain Coat, Jacket etc. and some other needful items as per their requirement during yatra.
hey here you can see some more pics of me with the view of Chandanwari and way to pissu top with me ..........
This second day’s trek of 12 kms from Chandanwari is through Pissu Ghati and spectacular, primeval countryside, and reachess Sheshnag - a mountain which derives its name from its Seven Peaks, resembling the heads of the mythical snake. The Journey to Sheshnag follows steep inclines on the right bank of a cascading stream and wild scenery untouched by civilisation. The second night’s camp at Sheshnag overlooks the deep blue waters of Sheshnag lake, and glaciers beyond it. There are legends of love and revenge too associated with Sheshnag, and at the camp these are narrated by campfires. The stillness of a pine scented Himalayan night increases your inner joy. There is a rest house but during Sawan there are large number of Yatris so it better to arrange for Tent from Chandanwari the arrangement for carrying load should be made at Pahalgam itself. The water of Sheshnag Lake is very cold. Yatri can take bath and get their fatigue alliviated. It is beautiful and scenic.
Camps at sheshnag
From Sheshnag one has to climb steep height up across Mahagunas Pass at 4276 meters.(14,000 ft) for 4.6 KM and then descending to the meadow lands of Panchtarni at a height of 3657 meters (12000 ft). The last camp enroute to the Holy Cave is made here on third day. Here one faces cold winds which cause the skin to crack. Hence cold cream / Vaseline are very useful for protection of skin. Some Yatris are also effected by deficiency of oxygen. Some may get the feeling of vomiting. So dryfruits and fruits like Allu Bukhara, sour and sweet eatables like Lemon are useful to control these symptoms . The route to Mahagunas is full of rivulets, water falls, springs. Panchtarni is a very beautiful place in the feet of BHAIRAV MOUNT.
The Holy Cave of Shri Amarnath is only 6 kms from Panchtarni. As there is no place to stay hence the pilgrims start in the early hours of the morning after their stay at Panchtarni. The pilgrims have to carry their eatables for the day.
People have to walk for approx.100 meters to cross this way and to reach on road from here they can hire vehicles to Chandanwari.
hey here you can see some view of Pahalgam with me..........
River side
River view of pahalgam
Taxi and jeep stand at pahalgam
Moving from Pahalgam to Chandanwari 16 KM by transport method you can hire mini buses and private cars and jeep to cover this 16 KM journey by bended roads, Many waterfalls will be there at both sides of the road. These falls are created by melting ice from the snow peaks. Lidder river will be flowing from Chandanwari towards Pahalgam. There is a small market where all essential items including medicines are available. You can get some few camera accessories and batteries for your gadgets in this market. Usually this market became more active before Amarnath Yatra which starts from end of June or July and continues till end of August.
At the end of the market there is a big Ice glacier here with a thick layer of ice. Water flows below the glacier. This is the ideal spot for tourist to enjoy snow even in end summer. Local made sledge is available here for skating over the ice. which gives you an awesome view of nature beautiful hills and another side lidder river flowing this way to chandanwari takes you on the height of 9500 feet after reaching at Chandanwari some people may feel some breathing issue due to low oxygen as compare to pahalgam.
During Amarnath yatra lord shiva devotee arranges bhandaras and langars on different different places on the way to cave. Yatris don't need to carry food with them but they must carry some medicines, Camphor, Glucose powder, Torche, Rain Coat, Jacket etc. and some other needful items as per their requirement during yatra.
hey here you can see some more pics of me with the view of Chandanwari and way to pissu top with me ..........
Pissu Ghati
As the Yatra proceed further from Chandanwari one climbs a height to reach Pissu Ghati. It is said that to be first to reach for darshan of Bhole Nath Shivshankar there was a war between Devtas and Rakshas. With the power of Shiv, devtas could kill the rakshas in such large number that the heap of their dead bodies has resulted in this high mountain. All this According to our u know...but i am here for what to visit this holy place ( Cave ) again and the beauty of this heaven. See the pic below the left side Hill which is also called pissu top
SHESHNAG
See some pic of place Shesnag.
Camps at sheshnag
PANCHTARNI
Five Rivers flow here. It is said that the five rivers originated from Lord Shiva's Hairs (Jataa). Pilgrims can camp at Panchtarni in night here.
(Bhandara / Langar) at Panchtarni......
Moving from Panchtarni to Holy Cave.........
(Bhandara / Langar) at Panchtarni......
Moving from Panchtarni to Holy Cave.........
The Holy Cave of Shri Amarnath is only 6 kms from Panchtarni. As there is no place to stay hence the pilgrims start in the early hours of the morning after their stay at Panchtarni. The pilgrims have to carry their eatables for the day.
On the way to The Holy Cave one come across the Sangam of Amravati and Panchtarni.
See below some pics near to Holy Cave.....
Some pilgrims take bath here to become pious. Near the cave is found white soil known as Bhasam. It is the most beloved soil of Shiv ji. The pilgrims apply this Holy soil to their body and then go for Shivling Darshan.
First View of Holy Cave during yatra after moving lot of kilometors ..... Jai Baba Amarnath Barfaani..
First View of Holy Cave during yatra after moving lot of kilometors ..... Jai Baba Amarnath Barfaani..
Guys look at this RAT i had never seen rat like this so huge healthy than a cat.
Finally we reached at the last check post of Amarnath Yatra no cameras, mobile phones any electronic device allowed in the cave so you have to submit all your holding except (Prashad) to the nearest shops. There are two smaller Shivlings one of Maa Parvati and other of Shri Ganesh.
It may be noted that after having early Darshan of the Shivlinga at Holy Cave one can return to Panchtarni well in time the same day . Some pilgrims camp at Panchtarni while others continue their journey and reach back Sheshnag by the same evening and some of the pilgrims uses Baltal way for return as this way is short than Pahalgam way.
I hope you enjoy this holy Amarnath Yatra with me and i am sure that you must wanna visit atleast once this place so don't think so much just start planning for your next tour to Amarnath yatra.
At the end going to finish my yatra with sharing some little about this yatra which is that i feeled, learned, enjoyed, lot of new things accepts challenges, fighting with high fever, cold, back ache, head ache, break fast, lunch, dinner at bhandaras, water from hills water falls, awesome climate srinagar around 36 degree in july feeling hot in the sunlight where after reaching on the way to pahalgao feeling cold, in day around 2 pm feeling hot and taking shelter for sunlight and in evening wearing jackets to keep us warm heavy rain fall enjoying dinner, going for sleep after taking 2 rajai and 3-4 gadde, first time more than 20 KMs. of horse riding, bathing at the height of approx. 14000 feet at the river side in locally constructed bathroom with the hot water costing 10 rs. per bucket :-) Darshan of shivling around 40 mint. first time and total time in cave around 1 hour. return from baltal way such a very dangerous way of approx 3 feet unconstructed damage way full of stone and sand no grill on the ravine side falling of stones from the hills thousands of feet ravine on the left getting dark at the evening time no lights no other way of light with us, nothing to do except walking and covering distance as soon as possible that we reach somewhere we can stay and spend that night, finally we found one base camp at river side 2km before baltal, coming of 2 bear at night near our camp, giving lift to 3 super beautiful, hot, gorgeus girls lovely maja hi agay unke sath safar ka, visiting CRPF batalian feeling of VIP amazing, local tour of srinagar, including lal chowk, markets, shankara charya temple, nishad gardan, pari mahal, shalimar gardan, nehru garden chashma shahi, shikara at dal lake, lotus, water lilly 3 or 4 feet long ghiya (loki), markets on boats floting post office, floating vegetable gardan, testing of safron for original, wallnuts tree, apple trees, all this makes this tour so wonderful in my life, love u srinagar, enjoy this virtual tour i hope u will definietly plan for Amarnath yatra for next time b bye guys and thanks for reading.
Now its time to move home, Srinagar Airport to Delhi.
Thank you .............
Love Aggarwal
