Amarnath Yatra Part-3: Journey to Guha or Holy cave
You can travel to Holy cave by walk or by horse or by Dolly(Four people will carry you in their shoulders) or through healicoptor. We hired horses for our travel before the day itself. On the day of travel, Horsemen came early in the morning around 3 AM to avoid the rush. We were standing in a queue near the entrence gate. Gates were opened around 5 AM in the morning.
1) while the horse is climbing up, your body should lean toward the front.
2)While the horse is stepping down your body should need to lean back. So that it will be easy for the horse.
While riding a horse, you need to use your muscle power to hold the grip which is attached to your seat. Sometimes it will be difficult to hold for a long time then inform the horsemen they would stop for some time and then proceed.
Near Sangam, you need to get down from the horse and you need to go by walk as it is too steep. Usually, horses will be going at a normal pace and speed but we need to keep our mind stable and do not panic especially when horse and you are crossing deep valleys 🙂
Horsemen: These people play a vital role in your journey. They are from local regions or from Srinagar. All of them are Kashmiris. They talk in the Kashmiri language which we don’t understand but all of them talk in Hindi. If you know Hindi you can manage the trip. They will have very good stamina. Even though they are Muslims, they help/take/carry each pilgrim to reach Holy cave of Amarnath Ji. Each Ponywallas will have one identity card.
Baltal to Holy cave Route: This is the most difficult part of the yatra. It is full of up and downs. Distance is around 15 KM one way. On the way to Guha, you will cross Domial, Sangam. In Sangam two rivers will join and after that go together. The return journey is comparatively more difficult than going to Guha here I am talking about by using a horse. Throughout your journey, you will cross landslides, glaciers, steep mountains and importantly you will cross valleys. Sometimes landslides will happen and walking path will be covered with soil and rocks. Then it takes a lot of time to restore the path to
I do see a wonderful route map for both routes in
Baggage: You can keep your luggage in any of the shops. OR before the Guha steps, there is a government clock room is there. you can deposit your mobile phones and other items over there
While climbing Guha steps what precautions you need to take: We experienced fast breathing while climbing Guha steps. Until that time we did not face any issues with breath but we three faced the same experience. So we reduced our speed of climbing steps and also we took more breaks. In case if you experience the same, make sure you take necessary breaks and take medical advise
I took this video when we are reaching Guha. It is a very big huge place between mountains. It is 13500 feet high https://youtu.be/pG46tRDpihQ
Darshan: We had very good darshan. When we went Shiv ling is about 6 to 7 feet . As soon as you enter Guha you will experience the coldness from the Guha. It is gigantic Guha based on its size. we also saw Pigeons in Guha. Along with Amarnath
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