WEST STEWARTSTOWN, NH — The Cohos Trail Association, the all-volunteer hiking trail organization that created the 165-mile Cohos Trail along the central spine of Coos County during the last decade, has launched a global digital fundraising campaign called Wilderness Shelters, in an attempt to raise $20,000 to undewrite new structures for the long pathway that runs from the White Mountains to Canada.

The Wilderness Shelters campaign was uploaded to www.indiegogo.com recently. Indiegogo is one of the larger digital fundraising sites, raising more than $100 million in donations for scores of projects around the world.

The campaign seeks to underwrite up to seven new large lean-to shelters and their accompanying aerobic composting latrines, sign kiosks, and signage, to complement the three association-built shelters on the long trail system that are already in existence.

Utilizing social media, the nonprofit Cohos Trail Association is attempting to reach outdoor enthusiasts everywhere on the web in an effort to stimulate interest in the development of the shelters.

The hiking club hopes to eventually built three-sided lean-tos from Jefferson to Pittsburg so that hikers and other outdoors aficionadoes may camp legally throughout Coos County and not be burdened with carrying a tent into the backcountry.