The Shoe Tree

If any of you have traveled the lonely roads of Nevada, you know there is not much to see along the way.  Every now and then someone tries to create something to look at.  This is the shoe tree located on Highway 50 (nicknamed The Loneliest Highway).  We stopped and took a few pictures.  Do you see all the ones that didn't make it in the tree or have fallen out?  It smells really bad, lots of rotting something.  But it is something to look for.  This one is located 30 miles before Fallon, Nevada. 

This is an article about this particular shoe tree along with a picture from the winter time:

A shoe tree starts with one dreamer, tossing his or her footwear-of-old high into the sky, to catch on an out-of-reach branch. It usually end there, unseen and neglected by others. But on rare occasions, that first pair of shoes triggers a shoe tossing cascade. Soon, teens are gathering up their old Adidas and Sauconys, families are driving out after church with Dad's Reeboks and grandma's Keds. Many inscribe messages on the sneakers in permanent marker -- greetings, love poems and life accomplishments.


The shoe tree blooms with polymer beauty. A work of art like this may last for generations, tracing our history by our sneakers . . . as long as the tree doesn't die.

On Highway 50 near Middlegate, Nevada, a lone cottonwood stands, clotted with hundreds of shoes. The story behind the tree goes as such: A young couple camped there on their wedding night and got into a tiff. The woman said she was gonna walk away and the man said, "If you do, you'll have to walk barefoot," and threw her shoes in the tree. Then, the man got in the car and drove to Middle Gate to have a drink at the bar. The bartender talked him into going back to his wife, which he did. A year later, they brought their first child's shoes to the tree and tossed them into the branches. Since then, people have been adding and removing shoes from the tree so that when you drive over a hill on that very desolate road, all that you can see is this cottonwood tree with shoes hanging from every branch.

Maybe we should start a tradition somewhere on one of these roads, any ideas?