Poly Canyon Hike, SLO

Poly Canyon Hike is a fantastic hike on the Cal Poly campus that takes you through a canyon on a wide dirt road called Poly Canyon Road. The hike is a 5.5 mile lollipop loop that you take counterclockwise when you start the lollipop part at the cream-colored barn. The road has a low gate that keeps cars out. There is abundant shade in the morning for the first mile, even until late morning, because of the high canyon walls! You are high up, with incredible views of Bishop Peak and its beautiful rocky outcroppings. You also see the student housing buildings, tall and elongated, in the valley. What a lovely bucolic setting! Eucalyptus and sycamore trees add to the beauty, as does the creek below. I like these trees so much better than oak trees, which you find on other hikes.

Watch out for poison oak. It is in huge clumps all along the path, but the path is wide so there's no reason you should come into contact with it. Kids and pets will need to be careful though.
About one mile in, you come to the Cal Poly Architecture students' creations! They are spread out on the hillsides and it's fun to explore them. Usually you see them at the end of the loop if you go counterclockwise, but you can visit just them if you don't want to do the loop trail. My kids wished the creations were more colorful, but they definitely have fun geometric shapes! There are some horses to check out near the architecture creations too!
To do the loop hike, go counterclockwise by taking the driveway toward the old broken down cream-colored barn. To the left of the barn is another gate. This leads to the fantastic loop trail! It is only good in winter because there is no shade at all. The views of the mountains of all shapes and sizes, and the feeling of wide open spaces is exhilarating- it makes me so happy. It is a wide dirt path. You turn left when you get about halfway, and it leads back to the architectural creations. 
This 5.5 mile loop hike is a fairly flat hike, 15% grade and below, if you skip the detour in the middle that goes to the top of a mountain (the mountaintop detour lasts 1 km and has a 22% incline with slippery gravel coming down) so it's easier on your knees than the many hikes in SLO that go to the top of a peak. To keep the hike at 10% grade and below, I usually take the loop counterclockwise, at the old cream-colored barn, not the architectural creations (which is the loop clockwise), and then just turn back earlier, to make it a 4-mile out and back hike, since it gets steeper (10-15% incline) later on in the loop. I love this hike! Most people take this route that I take (counterclockwise, out and back), which stays on a wide path. If you take the full loop, the path gets very narrow and sometimes you are alone walking through herds of cows!
After your hike, check out the Cal Poly Plant Conservatory (open M-F 9-5). You are allowed to walk inside its rooms and observe the plants. There are also many flowers in pots and growing around columns on the lovely patio outside. 
After, you can have a coffee at Scout Coffee on campus near the Cal Poly Welcome Center. It is a twelve minute walk away.
Another fairly flat walk is the Islay Park Greenway and the extension of it that leads to EA French Park.

Directions

Poly Canyon Hike starts on the right side of the Cal Poly Plant Conservatory. You can't miss the road you walk along for the hike, called Poly Canyon Rd on google maps. It is a wide, dirt road, with a low gate closing it off to cars.
On weekdays, you can park for $10 (you pay at the machine, remembering your license plate number) in any of the "general parking" spaces in the Grand Ave parking structure and walk to the trailhead. If this lot is full (which is often), you can park in the visitor parking lot. It is on the left after you turn on Pacheco Way. You also pay at the machine, entering your license plate number, and the cost is $12 per day. When you walk out of that parking lot and pay at the machine, Scout Coffee is on your left.

Click on map for interactive view