Going to the Redwood Run in the Old Days on the '47 Knucklehead - Motorcycle Rally in the California Redwoods

The first year we went to the Redwood Run was 1985. I believe it was the 8th annual one. My husband Bryan had build his '47 Knucklehead a couple of years earlier. We had taken the Knucklehead on some rides, but this was our first big motorcycle rally. It was about 240 miles from our home in Grass Valley to the run in Humboldt County and the closer we got the more Harley Davidsons we saw. At that time the Redwood Run was being held at French's Camp, near Richardson's Grove, seven miles south of Garberville on Highway 101. We stayed at the KOA campground across the highway to save the price of a ticket, which I think was about $15-$20 each at that time.

We picked out a spot, dropped our gear went on into town. At the bar there in Garberville we ran into our old friend Bob, a fellow knucklehead rider. It really was quite a coincidence as he was from southern California and we didn't even know he was coming. He told us he was there with a whole group of other knuckleheads that rode up from Southbay, in the LA, area camped back at the KOA. So the next morning we crawled out from under our tent, which we hadn't even bothered to set up the night before, and took a lap around the campground and found them. Well our buddy Cousin Mike was there with all of his friends, they'd had about as rough a night as we had, but he had a pretty good hangover cure, and pretty soon we were feeling OK.

That year was the beginning of a longstanding tradition for us, our friends from southern California came back every year and so did we. It was really almost the only time we saw each other, but we camped together year after year.

Some years we actually did pay to get in to see the music. The camping on the other side of the road was pretty primitive though. Not much shade or water, and just port-a-potties. So we preferred our old camping spot.

Organization was pretty lacking in those days. Traffic within the run was a complete free for all, and there were accidents. When the music played everyone just rode their bikes right down in front of the bandstand, which everyone liked, but it left a lot less room for people to stand.

A few years later the Redwood Run was moved a few miles away to the Riverview Ranch at Piercy. I thought it was a much nicer spot for camping with the Eel River running through it. And they supplied trailers with hot showers. Just port-a-potties though, and no KOA nearby. There were lots more food vendors. Also more rules, no more parking in front of the stage, you could only ride on the roads, then park and walk. Not everyone was happy about it, but it was much more orderly. And the quality of the music improved dramatically, and of course, so did the price of a ticket. I think it was up to $35 that first year and steadily increased to a high of $130. It seemed like a lot at the time, but looking back on it that was pretty cheap for 3 days of fun and music compared to a lot of festival type events in California, like the Strawberry Festival.

One of my favorite years at the Redwood Run it rained. I think it was the first year we had actually bought our ticket in advance. We saw on the news the day before that there was a big storm brewing. Doppler radar showed this huge swirling mass headed straight for our destination. The weather man said they were expecting high winds with gusts up to 90 MPH through the passes. So, being the safe and sane type of people we are, we headed straight into the eye of the storm.

We were lucky, we only had to ride 100 miles in the rain. There were less than half as many people as usual there, we probably could have gotten free tickets. As soon as we got to the campsite the sun came out. We all set up our tents and hung our laundry out to dry and went on down to the "pit". I stopped to chat with someone about half way down the hill, and it was lucky I did because there was a sudden cloudburst and I had to run back up the hill and throw everything back in the tent. We had set up a tarp to stand under and it was collecting water and funneling it all into the open door of our friend Paul's tent. I zipped it up and diverted the water as quickly as I could, but he must have had gallons of water in his tent. I don't know if it was Paul's favorite Redwood Run, and our friends from LA were late getting there, they said they had to ride in the rain all the way, some of them even turned back in Willets, so close.

There was never any police presence inside the Redwood Run, generally no need for any. Sometimes we could see them up on the highway though, looking down with their binoculars. It really kind of reminded me the old love-ins back in the 60s, without the cops cracking heads. It was like a huge private party with great music and an anything goes type of attitude. Lots of great riding in the area too. Like down to Shelter Cove on the "Lost Coast" or up the Avenue of the Giants.

The Redwood Run has been through some changes, but it still continues toe be held each summer. Gradually everyone in our group stopped going to the Redwood Run, each for our own reasons. I think 1999 was the last year for Bryan and me. But those were some special times that I'll never forget.

My old man is still building Knuckleheads after all these years. He's always looking for old Harley parts, especially, but not exclusively, Knucklehead parts. We'll come to you and bring the cash! Contact us at sahewins@gmail.com