Our next hike will be on Friday, April 3, 2026 and required multiple scouting trips by Russ to figure out the new parking arrangement at Cal Poly. We last made this hike over two years ago. It is presented here as a two-part option hike. The short (soft) option is about 4 miles round trip to the Cal Poly Architecture Graveyard. About 1 mile of that hike is to and from the trailhead from the parking lot. The "Graveyard" is a display of massive student projects dating from 1963 to 2009. Graveyard Story
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The full hike is ​6.1 miles including the walk to and from the parking lot. It includes the "Graveyard" plus Poly Canyon and has remarkable views of portions of the campus the vast number of students never see. The maximum elevation is 966 feet with an elevation change of 649 feet. The total of the UP waypoints is 1255 feet. This hike is in the medium hardness range. Dick Adams completed this hike last time in two hours and 42 minutes. With the longer walk from parking this time, it will stake slightly over 3 hours.
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PARKING
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First and foremost, it is important to remember that you will be driving on the Cal Poly campus on roads bordered by students going to and from class. Their attention is focused on their smartphones and their ears are filled with noise from the headsets they are wearing. They don't actually look where they are going and routinely cross streets without checking for traffic. A young lady who also worked as a Social Justice Coordinator was killed when hit by a bus. They formed a committee to study ways to help keep the students from walking in front moving trains while crossing to Mustang Village.
There is a great deal of construction occurring on campus resulting in temporary closure of roads and parking lots. The lot we used to use is no longer available. The one approved for our use, which is shown in maps below, is at the extreme northwest corner of a commuter parking lot. We will muster in that lot to begin the walk to the trailhead at 8:30 AM.
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YOU SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE GRAND AVENUE ENTRANCE. Use the Highland Drive entrance off Hwy 1. Do not attempt to find a sign for Highland Dr because it is not there. It may have been relocated to someone's dorm room. Headed North on Santa Rosa, it will be the first light after passing Foothill Blvd. The entrance to Cal Poly is well marked. Follow the map below to the parking lot.
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You MUST pay to park on campus. There are two choices. The least desirable is the solar powered pay station approximately 100 yards from our designated parking lot. There is no temporary parking near the pay station so you will need to park and then hike to and from the station which is identified on the map below. If you plan use it, arrive early and allow time to hike to and from the station, and there could be a line. You can try using a credit card or it can accept $1, $5 and $10 bills. The cost to park is $8. Bear in mind that the machine cannot make change. You may want to bring your auto license number and the number of the parking lot with you.
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The better way by far is to install ParkMobil on your smartphone (iOS or Android). You should do this from home in advance of the hike. It works extremely well and charges only thirty five cents for handling the transaction. Here is how it works. 1) Download the app from the app store and install on your phone. Use the free version--not the one with a $5 monthly charge. 2) Setup your credit card. 3) Setup the license number of the vehicle you will be using. It accepts multiple vehicles. When you park your car, open the app, and the phone will use its GPS to determine which lot you are in and list the cost to park. You select the appropriate time and click. That is all there is to it. No extra hiking, no lines, no fuss. Welcome to the 21st Century.
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PLEASE REMEMBER ALL THE PICTURES BELOW CAN BE ENLARGED WITH YOUR FINGERS OR OTHER CONTROLS ON A BROWSER. THIS WILL HELP A LOT WITH THE MAPS.
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