Panchtarni Panchtarni camp Panchtarni river Panchtarni valley | |
|---|---|
River valley and hill camp | |
 View of Panchtarni river valley | |
  Panchtarni Location in Jammu and Kashmir, India Show map of Jammu and Kashmir Panchtarni Panchtarni (India) Show map of India | |
| Coordinates:34°11′21″N75°29′53″E / 34.189285°N 75.4981834°E /34.189285; 75.4981834 | |
| Country | India |
| State | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Elevation | 3,505 m (11,500 ft) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Urdu |
| • Local | Kashmiri |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 192126 |
Panchtarni is a locality inAnantnag district of theIndianunion territory ofJammu and Kashmir. It is a popular pilgrimage and tourist destination on the way toAmarnath Temple near the Amarnath Glacier inHimalayas. It is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) fromPahalgam base camp and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) ahead of last halt camp ofSheshnag Lake in the north. It is a meadowland on the banks of eponymousPanchtarni River where five glacier-fed tributary streams meet in eponymousPanchtarni Valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains at an altitude of 11,500 feet (3,500 m).[1][2][3][4] It is also the final helicopter drop off for the Amarnath yatra pilgrims, who have to trek the rest of the 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) journey either on foot or by mule from this camp.[5]
It hassubtropical highland climate with the winters being long and cold winter while the summers are short and mild.
Panchtarni, a rest camp for theAmarnath yatra, is located between the base camp at Pahalgam and the last rest camp atSheshnag Lake before the finalAmarnath cave shrine. The July-August popular annual Hindu pilgrimage, undertaken by up to 600,000 or more pilgrims to the 130 feet (40 m)-high glacial Amarnath cave shrine oficed stalagmiteShiv linga at 12,756 feet (3,888 m) in theHimalayas, is calledAmarnath Yatra.[6][7][8][9] It begins with a 43 kilometres (27 mi) mountainous trek from the Nunwan and Chandanwari base camps atPahalgam and reaches cave-shine after night halts atSheshnag Lake and Panchtarni camps.[10]
