Josh Thanksgiving Crowd Trends?

For those of you that have spent Thanksgiving in the park in the past, I'm looking for a bit of beta on crowds.

Is the entire extended week beginning this Friday and lasting the week of the holiday busy (in terms of camping)? If one was to arrive this Sunday prior to the holiday, would it be like a usual Sunday where a lot of the campsites open up? If so, when will all the camping really start to fill up? Tuesday? Wednesday? Obviously the weekend after will be packed.

Any/all info much appreciated! Cheers.

I seem to remember the issue with SoCal climbing on big holidays was the traffic on the freeway. Thanksgiving is the worst day of the year to be on a California road. No joke.

What the others said about traffic. And don't forget Vegas traffic if you're from the Southland. If your way to Jtree takes you on the 15, you're going to be caught in one of the heaviest Vegas migrations of the year. Perhaps second only to the New Year weekend, there have been legendary 12+ hour backups at Thanksgiving.

I'm going to Red Rocks instead. Oh wait...

Thanks for the replies everyone. Can anyone who is local or gone that week in the past answer the specific question regarding the holiday arrivals? Will this Sunday be a normal one where lots of camping opens up? When will crowds show up specifically? I understand general crowds and traffic around the holiday, but I'm wondering about the Sunday before? Thanks

Sorry Kipp no crystal ball.... campgrounds have been filling up on Thursdays for weekends. It's not unusual for many groups to come and stay the entire week of Thanksgiving, so I would not be surprised at all if the campground "full" signs just remain up.

Sunday morning would be a good day to creep around, see if anyone is moving like they're taking off or even talk to people to find out their plans. A smile and thermos of hot chocolate might just score you a site.

The short answer....expect the campgrounds to be full when you roll in. Outdoor enthusiasts will starting staking claim late this week and through next weekend.

The "camp ground full" signs get flip down when the locals want to RV riding! Who's in?

There were a lot of open spots when I left on Sunday

I have spent several thanksgivings in joshua tree and in bishop, IMO, bishop is way less crowded. On the actual thanksgiving day, there was hardly anybody in the Buttermilks and there was a cool "thanksgiving for climbers" dinner for climbers traveling outside of their home area (like me). If you have the option, go there instead.
If you insist on going to jtree, hopefully you are already there at this point, as by wed. campsites are just luck of the draw kind of thing, especially in hidden valley. I ended up staying in BLM land one thanksgiving and one thanksgiving I made it into hidden valley. ryan campground seems to be a more long term dirtbag spot in my experience(they open up less frequently). don't be afraid to talk to people, split spots, park extra cars on boy scout trailhead, etc.(or just camp there) but if all else fails, you'll be fine. I've still never waited in line for any climbs except the absolute 4 stars. usually something good just around the corner too on most of them. good luck and happy climbing!

I feel that over the past year or so camping at josh has been completely filling up as early as on Thursday afternoon/evenings on regular weekends. I would imagine this would be only exacerbated by holiday weekends. Have fun! Temps look good! Camping shortage in the desert...

as of 2pm Tuesday the sites at Jumbo campsite are almost all full.

I took the day off yesterday and managed to take a quick trip out there with my two oldest kids. HVCG was full of course, and I heard the others were as well. Interesting though that, despite a lot of cars, I did not see a lot of climbers. Seemed to be a lot more tourists than anything. Of course all of that could change by tomorrow. Had a glorious time though. If the weather stays good, I'd say it's well worth the effort.