Photo by Luis Escobar
MILLINOCKET, Maine —Ultra marathoner Scott Jurek accepted a plea deal yesterday that will require him to pay $500 for consuming champagne at the summit of Maine’s Mount Katahdin immediately after his record-setting Appalachian Trail thru-hike.
Jurek, who was represented by attorney Walter McKee in a Millinocket District Court, was originally accused of bringing alcohol to the summit, littering, and bringing an oversized group—charges which carried a combined fine of some $3,000.
Both the charges of littering and bringing an oversized group were deemed unsubstantiated, but Jurek admitted to the consumption of alcohol and was therefore fined $500—about $300 more than a typical public drinking summons in the state of Maine.
“Today I resolved the infractions filed against me by Baxter State Park rangers,” Jurek wrote in his personal blog. “The littering charged was dismissed, and rightfully so. I did not litter, not for over 2,189 miles, not at the top of Mount Katahdin. The group size charge was also dismissed, no surprise there. I checked in at the base of Mount Katahdin with 12 people and that’s all my group ever had. The consumption of alcohol charge was accepted. I had a couple of sips of champagne. A friend brought the bottle without my knowledge to surprise me and two rangers at the bottom gave him a verbal okay.”
Read more here.
