I am wondering what the best campground for climbers is?

Hidden Valley - if you can find an open campsite. Read up on the NPS website for all the campgrounds there.

Sawtooth Canyon

I've always camped at hidden valley, there are climbs all around the sites and the community/social scene can be good. It can also be super annoying when you're trying to sleep and people are partying and playing drums all hours of the night.

any of them, really. theyre all near climbing. the only one that doesnt have a ton of climbers is Jumbo, but the rest are fine.

Hidden Valley is the only one with LOTS of climbing you can walk to. While the rest of the campgrounds having climbing, the density is nothing like HVG.

If you can... Hidden Valley is the spot.
Other than that... consider yourself lucky to even have a spot.

Bring earplugs if you want to sleep, unless you are at Cottonwood or Indian Cove which are both reasonably quiet. Neither of those would be a particularly good campground for climbing though.

If you like "the scene" then Hidden Valley.

If you find you aren't interested in "the scene" than just about any other campground is the place.

"Neither of those would be a particularly good campground for climbing though."

I disagree 100% about Indian Cove...... Lots of 4 star climbs there and a hike up Rattlesnake Canyon takes you to some of the best in Josh.

Look up things like:

Spanish Bayonet
Fronter Justice
The Hoosegow

Indian Country... that is a crag not a route.

Yah I figured someone would disagree with that part about Indian Cove, however I think the others are better. Indian Cove is just too damn remote for me to consider camping there again. Unless it was just a family camping trip.

Hidden Valley has a great vibe, lots of friendly climbers there. If I wanted to get away from people I'd go to Indian Cove. Which I disagree has a lot of climbing. Most of it is short, but there are long routes in the vicinity.

Beware... in HVG... the tools love to sneak up to your table and see just what you might have laying around.

Also, do not ever have more than 6 at your campfire... they were handing out tickets last New Years.

So, worleybird, I hope you get to campout and have fun, Josh is one special place.

Hidden Valley for climbing, Belle or White Tank to get away from it all. Indian Cove is oftentimes busy, and is pretty closely packed with sites, but it does have tons of walk-to climbing.

We stayed at Ryan Campground in October and it was great. Quieter and smaller than Hidden Valley but only about 1.5m away if you want to jump on those climbs.

A lot of great information. Flights and sites are booked. I am maxed out. Keep the beta/recommendations coming. I've been climbing for a long time but never bit the bullet on J-tree until now.

Cool you will have fun... so if you have a reserved campsite, your staying in Indian Cove, right?

The better campsites are like #80 and above.

Anyone have a recommendation on the best guidebook to get?

I had good luck with the Robert Miramontes/Wolverine Publishing guide book. It doesn't include as many routes as the Randy Vogel guidebook, but it does a better job of describing where they are. Nomad Ventures carries it.

Any spot that is open. Forget trying to find a site on Friday night, everybody and their little brother is too. If you are not at HVC don't sweat it, traveling around by car is easy, parking is ample, and the variety of climbs in the various areas is worth getting around.

Try to plan your climbs in clusters. If ambitious, you can knock out three or four in one area by noon, and travel to anther for the p.m. Note, JTree regulars consider 10s as moderate, but everyone else feels thoroughly sandbagged. Most climbs are trad, some are mixed, but climbs done before 85 tend to be run-out and spicy.

Vogel's Classic Joshua Tree is good for a kind of "best of" selection, but it does leave out many worthwhile climbs. A more comprehensive treatment is Alan Bartlett's set which divides up the park into six distinct areas. There is also a "Trad only guide" which is also quite good, but limited because it excludes bolt protected climbs. All are available at Nomad's.

I just know you'll love it.

If you are camping at Indian Cove, know that it is geographically isolated from the rest of the park. It takes about 45 minutes each way to get to the heart of the park from Indian Cove. Plan accordingly.

Also, bring some tape for your hands. J Tree granite has a bite to it. Have a blast!