© 2000 By The Associated Press

BAXTER STATE PARK, Maine (AP) — It took nearly a half century, but an 81-year-old retired dentist from Kentucky finally fulfilled his dream of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.

With his backpack slung over his shoulders and a hiking stick in each hand, Andrew Uterhart climbed Mount Katahdin on Saturday, reaching the mile-high summit around mid-afternoon in fog and heavy rain.

"When I started up the trail, I sort of cried a little," the white-haired Uterhart said. "Im a little sentimental. I guess it was the idea that I was completing something. It was my last hurrah."

Uterhart started camping and hiking along the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail at age 33 with his wife, Marion, in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Then their busy lives got in the way.

Uterhart started a pediatric dental practice in Lexington, Ky., and was doing public health work on the side. His wife, who was home tending their garden this weekend, had taught at a nursing school and later became its director.

Uterhart, who calls himself a "section hiker," would complete a portion of the Georgia-to-Maine footpath whenever he could find time, often accompanied by his nephews, who love to hike.

"We would go together for a long weekend or for a week here and there," he said.

On Saturday, Uterhart’s clothes were still damp from the rain as he returned to Katahdin Stream Campground in the early evening.

"It gave me a good feeling," said Uterhart, sitting at picnic table and sipping from a jug of cold water. "It was just to see if I could do it."

Uterhart noted that lightweight camping gear and cooking equipment weren’t available when he first set out on the trail.

"I had an old Army bedroll. Marion made a cotton inner lining because they were all wool. I had an old iron fry pan that was much too heavy," he recalled.

For the past 19 years of his retirement, Uterhart has worked as a volunteer for national parks across the country, including the Badlands National Park in South Dakota and the Isle Royale in Lake Superior in Michigan. Also, he is a volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service.

"I like the outdoors, and what I miss most about my practice and working at the childrens center is being with and working with people," he said. "In all of these places, I can work with people."

A survivor of colon and prostate cancer, Uterhart said his hiking days are far from over. He said he plans to spend much of this week in Maine and will visit the Moosehead Lake area.

As for the future, he said he has been thinking about remodeling his Lexington home, but is more tempted to hike the Long Trail, which runs the length of Vermont.