One thing that is immediately apparent about Apiary Road is that it’s rural. If you’re coming in from the north end around Rainier or Clatskanie, you have to climb up out of the river valley to get there, and then you go up a set of wonderful uphill esses that take you up onto the plateau.
If there’s no traffic, you can have a significantly fun trip up through those curves and still not be in serious hoodlum territory. Those are some good sweepers.
Unfortunately, that also means that the bicyclists like them too. I had to wait at intersections several times for the bicycle race that was running that weekend that went up through Fern Hill Road and then down Apiary back to US 30.
The south end of this road is more timer country than rural. The trees are thicker and taller, and evergreen instead of deciduous, and the farms don’t have lovely manicured lawns out in front of the house once you’re a few miles past the wide spot in the road that is the hamlet of Apiary itself.
One thing to keep in mind. Get gas in Clatskanie or Rainier before you head Apiary Road. There’s no services along the roadside and services are very scant even further south on the roads this one connects to.
- Road Name: Apiary Road
- Counties: Columbia(OR)
- Length: 23
- Towns: Apiary, Hudson, Rainier, West Rainier
Google Map of Apiary Road:
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