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The Best Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Book of 2024

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Joshua Tree is an amazing climbing destination. Known for its outstanding views and landscapes and its seemingly endless supply of exciting climbs, Joshua Tree has grown in popularity in recent years. The park is filled with great viewpoints, hikes, and of course climbs, but has minimal camping available within the park.

If you are thinking of planning a climbing trip to Joshua Tree, we recommend investing in a guide book. Although the rise of MountainProject has minimized the need for guidebooks, a real guide book is still the most reliable source of information on a climbing area. While not every route may be pictured or have great beta on MountainProject, you know when you buy a guide book that it will cover every route.

The park is filled with iconic crack climbs, although most climbs in Joshua Tree are more on the intermediate to advanced range, with very few easy climbs spread out throughout the park. Some of the classic areas include Quail Springs, The Real Hidden Valley, and Hidden Valley Campground, along with many others. It’s hard to go wrong when picking an area to climb at in Joshua Tree.

Joshua Tree is a world-renowned climbing destination due to its gorgeous views and multitude of climbs and climbing styles. The park has everything from smearing to crack climbing, dynos to overhangs. There’s something for every style of climber within Joshua Tree National Park. The park is also known for its amazing views, with every view seeming to come straight out of a magazine. The landscape and ecology of the area are impressive enough to attract tons of visitors every year.

If you want to get back to climbing, get our top pick for Joshua Tree climbing guide book here.

Our Top Favorite
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Our Top Runner Up
Classic Rock Climbs No. 01 Joshua Tree National Park, California
Our Top Value Pick
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport And Trad Routes in the Park (Falcon Guides Best Climbs)
Book Title
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Classic Rock Climbs: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park
Prime Eligible?
-
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Our Top Favorite
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Book Title
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Prime Eligible?
-
Our Top Runner Up
Classic Rock Climbs No. 01 Joshua Tree National Park, California
Book Title
Classic Rock Climbs: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Value Pick
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport And Trad Routes in the Park (Falcon Guides Best Climbs)
Book Title
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Our Favorites for the Best Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Book

The most well-respected guidebooks used in the Joshua Tree area are all written by Robert Miramontes. He has written general guide books for the area, trad guide books for the area, and bouldering specific guide books for the area. His guide books do tend to be a little bit more on the expensive side but are well regarded and trusted.

Joshua Tree Rock Climbs by Robert Miramontes (Our top pick for a guidebook to Joshua Tree Rock Climbing)

This book covers most of the main climbing areas in the park and includes some bouldering routes, but mostly trad routes. It includes the few sport routes in Joshua Tree, but most of Joshua Tree is either full trad routes, or run-out bolted routes that need to be supplemented with some trad gear. This book is quite pricey, but if Joshua Tree is your home climbing area, then it is a good investment.

Why should you choose this book:

  • If you are likely to do a decent amount of climbing, particularly roped climbing, in Joshua Tree, this book is a great investment and is well respected and trusted.

What makes this climbing guide book unique:

  • This book is one of the most complete guides to Joshua Tree available.
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
  • Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
  • Robert Miramontes (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Joshua Tree Bouldering by Robert Miramontes (Our top pick for a bouldering guidebook to Joshua Tree)

This bouldering specific guidebook is also written by Miramontes, so it comes with the same level of trust and expertise as his general guidebook does. This book is packed with amazing pictures of rock formations to help you identify the numerous boulders all over the huge park. Similar to Miramontes’s other guidebook, the price can be quite steep, but it is considered an amazing investment.

Why should you choose this book:

  • If you are looking to explore the bouldering routes available all across Joshua Tree, then this is the ideal guidebook for you.

What makes this climbing guide book unique:

  • This bouldering guide book is known for its helpful photos, making identifying strange rock formations easier.
Joshua Tree Bouldering
  • Robert Miramontes (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 416 Pages - 03/19/2012 (Publication Date) - Wolverine Publishing (Publisher)

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Our Runner Up for the Best Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Book

Classic Rock Climbs: Joshua Tree National Park, California by Randy Vogel (Our runner up pick for an all-around guide book for rock climbing in Joshua Tree)

Randy Vogel has written a handful of climbing guide books for Joshua Tree and other areas in California and is a trusted expert in the region. His books are known to have great detail and to cover the park well. This book is a great option for an all-around guidebook that is well respected. Any guide book by Randy Vogel is a great choice, as he has written a variety of guide books for Joshua Tree alone.

This book also talks about getting to the park, park fees, and where to stay, which can be really helpful, especially since camping in the park can sometimes be a challenge. Vogel is known for his understanding of the park, and his books will give you a good feel of the options available to you within the park.

Why should you choose this book:

  • This book is a great, cost-effective option that comes from one of the most reputable sources of information on climbing in the park.

What makes this climbing guide book unique:

  • This book has amazing descriptions of both the routes and the rock faces, making it very user friendly.
  • Vogel also has written a handful of other guide books for the area, all of which are equally as well respected. His hiking and rock climbing books are trusted all across California, so if you find any guide book written by him, you know you can trust it.
Classic Rock Climbs No. 01 Joshua Tree National Park, California
  • CLASSIC RC NO.1 JOSHUA TREE NP
  • Vogel, Randy (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Our Value Pick for the Best Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Book

Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport and Trad Routes in the Park Falcon Guides (Our value pick for best all-around guide book for rock climbing in Joshua Tree)

This guide book won’t cost you an arm and a leg, but will certainly get you around the best climbing in the park. While it may not offer the level of detail that some of the more pricy books might, Falcon Guides is a well-respected brand of guide books that are trusted. This is a great option if you’re not looking to spend much but want a good guide book to supplement your MountainProject.

Why should you choose this book:

  • If you are looking for a trustworthy, but cheap guide book to some of the must-climb routes within the park, this is the guide book for you.

What makes this climbing guide book unique:

  • Falcon Guides set up all their guide books in the same way, meaning that if you already have a falcon guide book for a different place, understanding this guide book will be a breeze for you.
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport And Trad Routes in the Park (Falcon Guides Best Climbs)
  • Gaines, Bob (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 192 Pages - 04/01/2019 (Publication Date) - Falcon Guides (Publisher)

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Why You Should Invest in a Guide Book for Your Joshua Tree Trip

In the age of MountainProject, guide books are starting to become obsolete, but not completely. In many places, guide books still hold so much more information than is available online. Guide books are written by experts in the area and can be trusted fully. Online forums, such as MountainProject, are great resources for getting up-to-date details about a route or area but are written primarily by community members.

Having a guide book with you on any type of trip also allows you to climb through heat and cold and for the whole day, while any of those conditions may sap the battery life of your phone. If your only guide to an area is on your phone and you are taking your phone into the outdoors, you are putting your guide book at risk. A paper, handheld guide book is the most reliable and trusted way of navigating around a new place.

All in all, investing in a guide book may seem like a waste of money when you’re sitting at home and have access to all the resources you want, but when you’re out on a long day of climbing and the weather turns rough, and your phone dies or gets wet, or whatever the case may be, you’ll be thankful for a guide book. Many people swear by Mountain Project, but having access to both a guide book and a forum such as Mountain Project can offer you the best selection of information that’s out there.

How to Choose the Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Book for You

Joshua Tree has over 6,000 climbing and bouldering routes, according to mountain project, so it’s important to choose the right guide book for you. There are generic Joshua Tree climbing guide books out there, but if you are only going to do roped climbing or only going to do bouldering, those probably aren’t going to be the most helpful for you.

Take some time to think about what styles of climbing you frequently do and what is most important to you in a guide book. Do you like maps? Or long route descriptions? Or color pictures, as opposed to black and white? Think about what you like from guide books that you own or have seen and find one that has that same characteristic and is tailored more specifically to the style of climbing that you do.

While you’re planning your trip to Joshua Tree, you may also want to think about picking up a guide book of the park’s many hiking trails and campgrounds. There’s a variety of options out there for a general park guide book, including Joshua Tree: The Complete Guide. This guide book is a great tool to have with you as you plan your trip to Joshua Tree. It’ll give you insights into campgrounds and hikes in the area as well as a general natural history of the area.

Something to think about when investing in a guide book is when it was published. In general, guide books come out with new and updated editions every few years, but even older editions are extremely valuable. Older editions tend to be on the cheaper side, but can be paired with an online forum such as Mountain Project to provide a great option at a good cost. If you want the most up to date guide book edition available, you may have to shell out a good amount of money, but it will have the most recent route descriptions, rules, and regulations for the area.

Wrapping Things Up: The Best Joshua Tree Climbing Guide Books

We’ve gone over a lot today. Here’s a helpful table to consolidate every Joshua Tree climbing guide books we went over:

Our Top Favorite
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Our Top Runner Up
Classic Rock Climbs No. 01 Joshua Tree National Park, California
Our Top Value Pick
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport And Trad Routes in the Park (Falcon Guides Best Climbs)
Book Title
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Classic Rock Climbs: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park
Prime Eligible?
-
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Our Top Favorite
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Book Title
Joshua Tree Rock Climbs
Prime Eligible?
-
Our Top Runner Up
Classic Rock Climbs No. 01 Joshua Tree National Park, California
Book Title
Classic Rock Climbs: Joshua Tree National Park, California
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Value Pick
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park: The Best Sport And Trad Routes in the Park (Falcon Guides Best Climbs)
Book Title
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime

Last update: 2024-03-28 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Joshua Tree is an amazing place to go for your next climbing vacation, but a guide book may come in handy. The routes here are often long and minimally bolted, but if you are looking for a place to go with amazing trad climbs and exciting boulders, then Joshua Tree is your place. It also is a great option for a winter climbing vacation since it is known to have ideal weather for climbing throughout the winter months.

Next time you’re thinking about climbing a winter climbing vacation, look no further than Joshua Tree. Get your trad gear and boulder pads ready, pick up a guide book, and go! Joshua Tree is a great climbing, hiking, and photography destination, so you’ll never run out of things to do in Joshua Tree.

Because you read this post, you’ll definitely like our review on the best Red Rocks climbing guide books here.

Looking for more topics like these? Be sure to check out our other climbing entertainment reviews here.

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