The 24 Hours of Great Glen

An awesome combination of ingredients at the 24 Hours of Great Glen last weekend! What luck to have the sun setting just then for this awesome sun star. Megaphone man had two bluetooth speakers pumping out house music on each side of the trail. It was pretty swell!

On another note... All the photos are uploaded! Check out the gallery here and thanks to those of you kind enough to make a purchase!
http://www.joeviger.com/Events/2015-24-Hours-of-Great-Glen

A Memorial on the Banks of the Muddy Wishkah

This week I was traveling to Olympic National Park and found myself in the southwest Washington city nicknamed the "Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula".  As I drove past logging yards and wood chip piles,  Aberdeen reminded me of the paper mill town I grew up back in northern New Hampshire.

Besides logging and fishing, Aberdeen is famous as the hometown of Kurt Cobain.  Chances are that most of the people who might be reading this don't need an explanation.  But to set the stage, Kurt Cobain was an icon for a generation as the singer, song writer and guitar player for the rock band Nirvana.   Fame was challenging for Cobain.  He experienced depression, had challenges with heroin addiction and ultimately took his own life with a 20-guage shotgun on April 8, 1994 at the age of 27.

Nirvana was founded here in Aberdeen with bassist Krist Novoselic.  Kurt's boyhoood home is in a quiet neighborhood near the Wishkah River.  Like any young boy, he sought out the banks of the river for adventures and his private playground was under a bridge two blocks from his 1210 East 1st Street  address.

Today, there is a small park with a homegrown memorial to Kurt Cobain.  Here are some photographs from my visit.

Fans pay tribute to Cobain in different ways.  Interestingly, there were hardly any liquor bottles under the bridge, but this looks like a popular spot to do Heroin.  There were many of these orange syringe caps, alcohol swab wrappers and evidence of other indulgences.

Newton's Revenge Bicycle Race to the top of Mt. Washington

Here are a handful of my favorite images from photographing Newton's Revenge.  Truth be told it was my first time photographing a bike race and it was great fun!  The 2015 Newton’s Revenge Bicycle Race was held on July 11, 2015. The race is a 7.6 mile bicycle race up the Mt. Washington Auto Road. Eric Follen was this year's overall winner and Stephanie Wetzel was the women's champion. You can see the full results here:  http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/nh/Jul11_Newton_1_set1.shtml. 

Learn more about the race here: http://newtonsrevenge.com/

  

 

 

 

The 2015 Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race

It's been super busy and this is a little late but here are some of my favorite photographs from the Mt. Washington Road Race.  For the uninitiated, here's a little back story... The 55th Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race was held Saturday, June 20, 2015 at the Mt. Washington Auto Road.  The race is a 7.6-mile hillclimb to the summit of Mt. Washington, climbing more than 4,500′ en route with average grades of 12% and maximum grade of 21%.  This year's winners were Joe Gray, who set a new American record, and Kim Dobson.  To see more images, check out my race gallery.

Peter Maksimow, Inov-8 is a blur on the lower slopes.

Zach Miller, 3rd Overall, Nike

Joe Gray, 1st Overall, Scott Running

Justin Freeman, 8th Overal, Top NH finisher.  Former Nordic Olympian.

Joe Gray, 1st Overall and new MWRR American Record 58:15, Scott Running

Rickey Gates, 7th Overall, Salomon Running

Joe Gray, Rickey Gates, Peter Maksimow, Simon Gutierrez, Zach Miller, Andy Wacker 

Kim Dobson, 1st Place Woman

Brandy Erholtz, 2nd Place Woman, New Balance

Amber Ferreira, 6th Place Woman

Larisa Dannis, 8th Place Woman, Hoka One One

Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Famer, Canadian Olympian and Boston Marathon Winner Jacqueline Gareau

95 year old powerhouse George Etzweiler

Johnny Cash's Bedroom

Last week I had a chance to visit Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas.  I'm a big fan and there was definitely some feeling of visiting hallowed ground for me but the history of the place is also fascinating.  A New Deal initiative to establish family farms from the overgrown Arkansas countryside, the Cash family was given 20 acres and a five room house.  At the end of three years, they had fed their family, paid off their $2300 debt to the government and owned the owned the home.

Six people shared the two bedrooms (and four beds) in the house.  Somehow Cash's bedroom was particularly fascinating to me.  The picture of the cross was framed by young Johnny himself and like much of the furnishings in the house donated back by the Cash family.  While, I'm not a religious person, somehow that cross spoke to me and Johnny Cash's story.

Mountain Running Monday Mt. Washington!

It's Mountain Running Monday and this weekend is the Mt. Washington Road Race at the Mt. Washington Auto Road!!! You don't see a lot of race photography in black and white, but this shot from 2013 of Sage Canaday at about 4.5 miles is one of my all time favs. Sage would finish 3rd with 1:03:39 that year after running a smoking 58:27 to take the win in 2012.

Here's a Recipe

Sunset, clouds, a breezy evening and long exposures are good ingredients for a photo! 

Danforth Bay on Ossipee Lake

Freedom, NH