Amundsen reached the Pole on 14 December and put a Norwegian flag there. Then he prepared for the return journey. Scott finally arrived at the Pole with four team members on 17 January. They were shocked when they saw the Norwegian flag. Scott wrote sadly in his diary: "Well, we have now lost the goal of our ambition and must face 800 miles of hard pushing and goodbye to most of our dreams." The return journey was one of the worst in the history of exploration. The men were soon exhausted and were running out of food. The weather conditions were terrible. Scott started to realize their hopeless situation: "...we are very cheerful, but what each man feels in his heart I can only guess. Putting on our shoes in the morning is getting slower and slower." However, on their way back they found time to look for rocks. They carried 20 kilos of rocks all the way with them. Later, these rocks proved that at one time in the distant past the Antarctic was covered by plants.