Yes…people just up and abandon their shoes. Some are accidentally dropped during the hiking day if strapped to a pack, but many I found at campsites and were probably left intentionally. Most due to blistered feet, but who really knows? I started taking pics of abandoned footwear soon after our hike began, unfortunately I didn’t think about it until I had seen my 3rd or 4th shoe (or pair) laying beside the trail or in a shelter…but here is a collage of all I found thereafter….

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Standing Bear Hostel (just north of the Smokies) made good use of shoes abandoned there as plant-holders and decoration…

“The Shoe Tree” at Neel Gap, Walisi-Yi Hostel, only 30 miles from the southern terminus (Springer Mountain, GA) houses hundreds of pairs of heavy, blister-causing boots tossed into it’s branches over the past 30 years…