there are a couple fantastic places around me that are kept reletively secret. in the northeast, an area with painfully little sport climbing, a fantastic sport crag with fun, steep lines has been kept very low key for decades as well as another series of crags about 10 minutes away which has only recently been made public but before that there was a great deal of climbing and only about 18 or so people knew about it. of course now that it has a guidebook and is published on the internet people will start to show up in droves and ruin my little rock sanctuary.

I think I know the area you're talking about. One 5.9 on the far left, a loooong 5.10 in the middle, and a bunch of harder 5.11-5.12 routes on the right, and then some low angle slabs to the far right? Name starts with a T? (At least, that's what my friends and I have been calling it for about 7-8 years).

That area stays pretty off the radar and is within 30 minutes of NYC. In all my 10-15 visits, I've only seen other climbers there a single time. Pretty amazing for good quality sport climbing that close to a major metropolitan area. Personally, I'm pretty selective about who I bring there.

Many of these areas are not really "kept secret" but I find that a lot of people now a days would rather read about climbing on the internet then actually make friends in the real world who might take you to unpublicized areas. All I've had to do is ask and people usually tell me... but there won't ever be any info about the areas on the internet.

New Jack City -Beautiful Black Basalt- just updated by Jack Marshall, lots of sports climbs, free camping, bathrooms, showers, jack and the box-hamburger,fries and coke, free if you mention RC.Com(jack please handle this) need a map

Riverside Quarry- Excellent Great Climbs, Easy Sport Routes, Many Maps, Etc

Apple Valley- Shouldn't be missed, alot of great climbs, some on the sharp side, but easy for the grade, nice area, plenty of locals , restaurants, etc maps needed

Lucerne Limestone- Only there once very pretty white limestone with a touch of pink difficult to find the routes, but some insiders might tell you if they like you, Close to j.tree

Perris-Big Rock- havent been there but very popular, alot of local interest maps and directions needed

Devils Punchbowl- A favorite sandstone are hidden locals enjoy towards wrightwood. need map or local

Mt baldy- mostly for scrambling, but you can climb anyway towards foothills nice trails also used for skiing. maps and google

Around Chattanooga there seems to be a trend of people finding areas and thinking that they are new. Later they find out that the place was semi popular 15 or more years ago and that all their "FA's" really in fact were just repeats from a generation past. Definitely a result of 0 documentation or spray of these areas.

There are a lot of "secret" areas in PA, but mostly due to the fact that they are on private land. A good number of these have landowners that allow climbing, but specifically ask that nothing gets posted/published about their land. The private areas in PA outnumber the public areas by at least a factor of 10, and most of them are better quality climbing as well. I was amazed when I found several 250'+ cliffs in PA with great sport and trad climbing on them, but little to no documentation. I used to think it was stupid to keep such good areas secret, until I started talking to landowners myself. Most of them have no problem letting you on their land. They would just rather keep the crowds (and garbage that goes with them) away.

BTW, Cush, I think you are referring to the transit cliffs, right? Nice little spot, although I think the secret is out. Last time I was there, there were 3 different groups fighting over that 9 and 10!

Not really a matter of them getting upset about it. I think the case is more just that some didn't care in the same way then.

It's definitely not the secret I once thought it to be. I think the lack of any moderate routes and the sketchiness of some of the routes/access keep most people away. I've also read about a high quality secret spot near the trisect.. Haven't had the chance yet to head up there and find out for myself whether it exists or not.

Around Chattanooga there seems to be a trend of people finding areas and thinking that they are new. Later they find out that the place was semi popular 15 or more years ago and that all their "FA's" really in fact were just repeats from a generation past. Definitely a result of 0 documentation or spray of these areas.