Few people have sounded as happy to reach Henderson, Nevada, as Anton Nootenboom. Since February, the Dutch Army veteran—best known on Instagram as the Barefoot Dutchman—has been traveling barefoot across Los Angeles and the Nevada desert, weathering literal storms as he embarks on an ambitious 3,100-mile journey across the U.S. to raise awareness for men’s mental health.
He’ll arrive on the Las Vegas Strip this week, eager to celebrate a mini-milestone in a challenge that’s taken a toll on him from head to toe.
“It's been absolute hell. The first time I decided to walk into the desert and not stay on the road, I was punished pretty much straight away,” says Nootenboom, who has also walked for leading mental health charity Movember. “There is no relief. It's just the constant struggle and pain of walking on these rocks. It's beautiful, though.”
The 37-year-old, who broke a 2021 Guinness World Record for walking 1,875 miles barefoot along Australia's East Coast, aims to break his original record, traveling across 13 states over the next eight months to reach New York, logging 7.5 million steps in the process for his Brave Men Talk campaign.
“Most of us grow up with ‘don't cry, man up.’ That gets us stuck thinking that we have to do everything by ourselves. We always have to be a rock and don't show any emotion or vulnerability because that's weak,” Nootenboom says. “I started to learn the opposite is true. It's not weak, but it's courageous to actually say ‘I need help.’”
After a decade in the Army and three tours spent in Afghanistan, Nootenboom came home to face another kind of war: his ailing mental health. “Funnily enough, it had nothing to do with Afghanistan, but it definitely had something to do with leaving the Army,” he adds. “One part of my struggles was losing my own identity.”
In seeking help, Nootenboom came to the conclusion that he wasn’t alone—and no one else had to be, either. “I want to show people that yes, it's definitely tough. There's a lot of ups and downs, there's good days and bad days. But regardless of what life is gonna throw at you mentally and physically, you can take it,” he says.
The Army vet forecasts the next leg of his journey—from Vegas’ arid desert to Denver’s rocky mountains and the humid trek through the Midwest—will present a real test. But for now, he says he’ll rest up in Vegas, “probably just stay in a hotel room, put my feet up, Netflix all day and eat.”
Nootenboom also invites people to meet up with him at the Bellagio fountains on March 22 at noon. It’ll be an opportunity to share stories, provide encouragement and ultimately remind people why it’s important to take things one step at a time.
Follow the Barefoot Dutchman’s journey at instagram.com/thebarefoot_dutchman.
