Panchtarni


Panchtarni is a locality in Anantnag district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a popular pilgrimage and tourist destination on the way to Amarnath Temple near the Amarnath Glacier in Himalayas. It is located from Pahalgam base camp and ahead of last halt camp of Sheshnag Lake in the north. It is a meadowland on the banks of eponymous Panchtarni River where five glacier-fed tributary streams meet in eponymous Panchtarni Valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains at an altitude of. It is also the final helicopter drop off for the Amarnath yatra pilgrims, who have to trek the rest of the journey either on foot or by mule from this camp.

Climate

It has subtropical highland climate with the winters being long and cold winter while the summers are short and mild.

Amarnath Yatra

Panchtarni, a rest camp for the Amarnath yatra, is located between the base camp at Pahalgam and the last rest camp at Sheshnag Lake before the final Amarnath cave shrine. The July-August popular annual Hindu pilgrimage, undertaken by up to 600,000 or more pilgrims to the -high glacial Amarnath cave shrine of iced stalagmite Shiv linga at in the Himalayas, is called Amarnath Yatra. It begins with a mountainous trek from the Nunwan and Chandanwari base camps at Pahalgam and reaches cave-shine after night halts at Sheshnag Lake and Panchtarni camps.