Privacy policy

Southern Hiker publishes guides to the Smokies, the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. This policy explains what the site collects, why, and how to have it removed. It was last updated on 19 August 2026. Questions go to [email protected].

Reading the site requires no account and we ask for nothing. Our server keeps standard request logs - the page requested, the time, a truncated and hashed IP address, and the browser’s user-agent string - which we use to see which pages work and to spot abuse. IP addresses are hashed rather than stored raw, so a log line cannot be tied back to an individual reader.

There are no affiliate links on this site, so there is no click tracking of that kind either. If commercial links are ever added, this section will describe what is recorded before they appear.

The site sets no advertising or tracking cookies, and no third-party cookies at all. A session cookie is used only for the private admin area, which readers never touch.

We do not sell or rent data. We do not build advertising profiles. We do not run third-party ad networks or social tracking pixels on these pages.

If you are in the UK, EU or another jurisdiction with equivalent law, you have the right to ask what we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, and to object to processing. Because we deliberately collect no identifying data, in most cases the honest answer is that we hold nothing that identifies you. Email [email protected] and we will answer within 30 days.

This site is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top changes with it and the previous version is available on request.