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Hike NWA

How to start hiking in Northwest Arkansas.

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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 5, 2026

Hike NWA is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Bella Vista, Arkansas. This page explains what information hikenwa.org collects, why we collect it, who else sees it, and what you can do about it. We have written it in plain language on purpose.

The short version: we do not sell your information, we do not run advertising, and this site has no user accounts to sign up for. We collect the minimum we need to answer your questions, organize hikes, accept donations, and understand which parts of the site are actually useful.

What We Collect · How We Use It · Cookies & Analytics · Who Else Sees It · How Long We Keep It · Your Choices · Children · Security · Contact Us

What we collect

Information you give us

  • Contact form. Your name, email address, the reason you are contacting us, and your message. This is stored on this website and emailed to us.
  • Volunteer hour logs. If you volunteer with us, the monthly hours form collects your name, email address, phone number, and the hours you report. That form is hosted by Tally, a third-party form service.
  • Donations. Our donation form is provided by Zeffy. Zeffy collects your name, email address, and payment details. We receive your name, email address, and gift amount. We never see or store your full card number.
  • Anything else you send us by email, by mail, or through our Facebook group.

Information collected automatically

  • Usage data. Your IP address, browser and device type, operating system, the page that referred you, the pages you view, and how long you stay. This is collected by Google Analytics and by a visitor statistics plugin that stores this information in our own website database.
  • Approximate location. Analytics tools estimate a general location, usually city or region level, from your IP address. We do not collect precise GPS location from your device.
  • Security and server logs. Failed login attempts and the IP addresses they came from, plus the standard access logs kept by our web host.

Content loaded from other companies

Some pages pull in maps, fonts, charts, and forms from other companies’ servers. When your browser loads that content, those companies can see your IP address and which page you are on, even if you never click anything. On this site that includes map tiles from OpenStreetMap, our mapping and charting code libraries, web fonts, the Zeffy donation form, and Tally forms.

What we do not collect

We do not sell personal information. We do not run advertising or advertising trackers. We do not track you across other websites. There are no visitor accounts or logins on this site.

How we use it

  • To answer your questions and respond to feedback about the site or the trails.
  • To organize group hikes and to coordinate with our volunteers and hike leaders.
  • To process donations, send receipts, and thank our donors.
  • To understand which guides, routes, and trailhead pages people actually use, so we know what to improve next.
  • To keep the site secure, working, and backed up.
  • To meet the recordkeeping and reporting obligations that come with being a nonprofit.

Cookies and analytics

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. Some are needed for the site to work at all. Others help us count visits and see which pages are useful.

When you first arrive, a consent banner lets you choose which categories you allow. You can change your mind at any time by clearing this site’s cookies in your browser, which brings the banner back.

We use Google Analytics to measure traffic in aggregate. If you would rather not be counted anywhere Google Analytics is used, Google offers a browser add-on that opts you out: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

We do not sell personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of on that front.

Who else sees it

We do not sell, rent, or trade your information. We share it only with the service providers that make parts of this site work, and only for that purpose:

  • Our web host—hosting, backups, and server logs.
  • Google—website traffic measurement through Google Analytics and Search Console.
  • Zeffy—donation processing.
  • Tally—our volunteer hours form.
  • Our email delivery provider—sending form notifications and replies.

Each of these companies has its own privacy policy that governs what they do with the information they handle.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or if we believe it is necessary to protect someone’s safety or our organization’s rights. Aside from that, information stays with the volunteers who need it to do their jobs.

How long we keep it

  • Contact form messages—kept while we are working on your question and cleared out once we no longer need them, generally within two years.
  • Volunteer records—kept for as long as you volunteer with us and afterward as needed for our nonprofit reporting.
  • Donation records—kept as long as tax and nonprofit recordkeeping rules require, which is generally at least seven years.
  • Analytics and visitor statistics—kept according to the retention setting in our Google Analytics account and, for the on-site statistics plugin, on our own server.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to show you, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you. Send us a note through our contact form and we will take care of it as quickly as we can, generally within 30 days. We may need to ask a question or two to confirm who you are.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under your state’s or country’s privacy laws. Rather than sort out who qualifies, we extend the same basic ability to everyone who asks.

You can also decline analytics cookies in our consent banner, and your browser lets you block or delete cookies from this site entirely.

Children

Kids are welcome on the trails, and we hope to see plenty of them out there. This website, though, is written for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us information through this site, contact us and we will delete it.

How we protect information

This site runs over an encrypted connection, we limit administrator access to the volunteers who need it, we use login protection against automated attacks, and we keep regular backups. No website can promise perfect security, but we take it seriously and we keep the amount of personal information we hold small on purpose.

Links to other websites

We link out to route maps, mapping and navigation apps, social media, and the cities and property owners who manage the trails. Once you follow a link, you are on their site and their privacy policy applies, not ours.

Changes to this policy

As the site grows, this policy will change. When it does, we will update the page and change the date at the top. If we make a change that meaningfully affects how we handle your information, we will say so clearly rather than quietly editing the page.

Questions about your privacy

Reach us any time through our contact form and choose “General question.” A real volunteer reads every message.

Hike NWA
412 Town Center NE #1044
Bella Vista, AR 72714
EIN 42-2911997

That address is a mailbox we use for mail, not a physical office. Hike NWA operates in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

Explore & Plan a Hike

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Guides & Resources

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  • Which Trails are Hikeable?
  • Beginner’s Hiking Guide
  • Trail Difficulty
  • Trail Surfaces
  • How to Use a Navigation App
  • Bella Vista Walks & Hikes

Hike NWA

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Copyright © 2026 · Hike NWA · A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
412 Town Center NE #1044, Bella Vista, AR 72714 · EIN: 42-2911997

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