MILLINOCKET, Maine - When Scott Jurek made it to the top of Mt. Katahdin, breaking the record for the fastest traverse of the entire Appalachian Trail, the ultra-marathoner and his corporate sponsors wanted to celebrate. But what transpired atop Maine's highest peak on Sunday didn't sit well with the people who oversee Baxter State Park.
It was an undeniable feat of mental and physical prowess: Springer Mountain, Georgia, all the way to the summit of Mt. Katahdin. The entire Appalachian Trail. All 2,180 miles of it in just 46 days.
"There was this mountain here. I had to get there. I had to. I had to be standing here." By this point, as captured in the You Tube video below, ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek was sitting beneath the sign at the summit of Mt. Katahdin, surrounded by a crowd of family, friends and camera-wielding media members, answering questions, his right hand wrapped around a bottle of champagne.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vog3AjgzQLY
Jurek asked how long some in the crowd had been waiting for him at the summit, which also marks the official end of the Appalachian Trail. "I was here at 9," one man replied.
"Give that man a glass of champagne! I'll pour some right now for you," Jurek said.
The officials who manage Baxter State Park, though, weren't too thrilled to see alcohol at the summit and a crowd of more than 12 people.
"I knew about this before the event. We told them they've got to obey certain rules," says Doug Denico. Denico heads the Maine Forest Service and is chair of the Baxter State Park Authority, which oversees the park according to strict rules to keep it "forever wild."
In the days before Jurek's ascent, Denico says the park's director, Jensen Bissell, was in contact with some of the ultra-marathoner's corporate sponsors.
"Jensen was perfectly clear on what was expected of them. And they agreed to do those things," Denico says. "You know, it had to do with, I guess, how many cameras, how many people, no drinking and all those things. 'Cause, you know, what people expect when they go to the summit- they don't exepct a party atmosphere. They expect a semi-revent type atmosphere."
But Jurek, in coodination with corporate sponsors like Cliff Bar and Brooks Running, staged a celebration. The ultra-marathoner sprayed champagne into the air as the crowd cheered.
The park authority offered its own take on what happened later on Facebook. It lamented the use of Baxter State Park as a setting for promoting products made by the companies backing Jurek and it noted that the ultra-marathoner and his sponsors failed to tell the media that he had been issued citations for consuming alcoholic beverages in the park, littering and hiking with an oversized group.
Neither Scott Jurek nor his wife have responded to e-mails seeking comment. Doug Denico, meantime, says this isn't the first time that people have staged such a celebration atop Mt. Katahdin.
"The Park Service is going to send a couple of their people up to talk with us because they've been kind of ignoring this issue," Denico says. "It is their problem and they should address it. It's not ours to address, it's theirs."
The National Park Service manages the Appalachian Trail, along with the U.S. Forest Service, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and numerous state agencies. An e-mail and call to the press officer with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, seeking comment, were not returned by airtime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vog3AjgzQLY
