The short version: I collect as little as I can get away with, I have no plans to make money from this, and I am not going to sell you to anybody.
Wanderfall is a free hobby project run by one person, jw. This explains what it collects, why, and what you can do about it. It goes with the Terms of Service.
You can use the map without an account, and without giving me anything.
If you create an account, the site stores:
There is no password, so there is no password to lose. Signing in sends a single-use link to your email address which expires after two days.
The site uses Google Analytics, which sets cookies and tells me roughly how many people visit, which pages they open and which features they use. I look at it to decide what to work on next. Google's handling of that data is Google's, and is covered by their privacy policy. Your browser's Do Not Track setting, an ad blocker, or declining cookies will all stop it, and nothing on the site will break if you do.
Map tiles and fonts are loaded from other companies' servers, which means those companies see your IP address, as they would for any site using them. Links out to NCWaterfalls.com, HikingWNC and the rest take you to sites I do not control and whose privacy practices are their own.
I do not sell your individual information. I do not share it with anyone except the services named above, which the site needs in order to work. I do not send marketing email — the only email this site sends you is a sign-in link you asked for. I do not build advertising profiles.
I have no intention of making money from Wanderfall. I am not going to promise that never changes: if it ever does carry advertising, cost money, or otherwise earn anything, I reserve the right to do that.
What I will not do is sell your individual information — your email address, your account, or the record of where you personally have been. That is yours.
Aggregate and deidentified information is a different thing, and I reserve the right to publish, give away, sell, advertise with or otherwise use it. By that I mean facts about the whole set of visitors rather than about any one of them: how many people logged a visit to a given waterfall, which falls are the most visited, how far people typically walk. Nothing in that identifies you, and nothing in it can be turned back into you.
Account information and your visit history are kept while the account exists. Sign-in links expire after two days, or as soon as they are used.
Email me and I will delete your account, your visits and your ratings. There is no form for it yet; there is just me, and I will do it.
This site is not aimed at children and does not knowingly collect anything from anyone under 13. Tell me if that has happened and I will remove it.
The site and its database are hosted in the United States. Using it means your information is processed there.
If this policy changes, the date below changes with it. Anything that materially affects what happens to information you have already given me will be said plainly here rather than buried.
I can change this policy by emailing signed-up users at the address on their account. Sending that email is enough to put the new version in effect, whether or not you read it. If you do not like the new version, ask me to delete your account.
Questions, deletion requests, or anything else: jw@mustmodify.com.
This is not intended to be persnickety. Neither of us has any idea what the future holds and I don't want to have to hire a lawyer after giving you a cool website.
Last updated 28 September 2026.