Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
Privacy policy
What this site collects, what it does not, who else can see it, and how to ask us to delete it.
West Virginia Outside is published by Appalachian Heritage Media. This policy covers westvirginiaoutside.com.
What we collect
You can read this entire site without giving us anything. We do not require an account and there is nothing to log in to.
What you give us. If you email us, subscribe to the newsletter, submit a trip report or ask about a directory listing, we receive what you send — typically a name, an email address and your message. We use it to reply, to send what you asked for, and for nothing else.
What your browser sends. Our host records ordinary server and security data for every request: an IP address, the page requested, a timestamp, a referring page and a user-agent string. This is how any web server works, and it is what tells us a page is broken or a link is dead.
What stays on your device. Some pages remember small preferences — a filter you chose, a panel you collapsed — in your browser's own storage. That never leaves your device and we cannot read it.
What we do not do
We do not sell or rent personal information. We do not share it with advertisers or data brokers. We do not build advertising profiles, and we do not run third-party advertising trackers on this site. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Analytics
We use privacy-respecting, aggregate analytics to understand which pages are read and which links fail. We do not use these figures to identify individual readers.
Embedded and third-party content
Some pages show Instagram posts from public park, agency and tourism accounts, and some pages load fonts hosted by Google. Those providers receive a request from your browser when that content loads, and their own privacy policies apply to it. Links out to agency, nonprofit and business sites take you to services we do not control.
The newsletter is opt-in. Every message carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you from the list. We do not add anyone who has not asked to be added.
How long we keep things
Server logs are retained only as long as they are useful for security and troubleshooting. Correspondence is kept while it is relevant. Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe.
Your choices
You can ask us what we hold about you, ask for a correction, or ask us to delete it, and we will do so unless we are required to keep it. Depending on where you live you may have additional rights under laws such as the GDPR or the CCPA, including the right to object to processing or to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. We honour those requests regardless of where you live. Your browser's "Do Not Track" and Global Privacy Control signals are respected.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS. No transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we keep what we hold to a minimum, which is the best protection there is.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top of this page changes with it.
Contact
Privacy questions, access and deletion requests: peter@ahgwv.com.