There is a gate pull off for Nine Mile Ranch 170 ft NW of the cache -- There is no need to cross any fences. The cache is in the highway right of way! DO NOT OPEN THE PHONE BOX! THE CACHE IS NOT INSIDE THE BOX!!!
Have you ever wondered what the PPOO painted on this rock is? Well it stands for the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway. This is one of the few markers that remain along this or any of the routes. This route was long before roads were numbered, so this is a way routes were marked. Most of the time, the markers were posted or painted on telephone poles, and as those were replaced, the markers disappeared also. This marker is kept up for prosperity sake!
The PPOO highway began in 1912 during a time when paved roads were few and far between. It is the shortest transcontinental highway in the US, roughly following the fortieth parallel. It runs almost in a straight line, expect where the lay of the land makes it impossible. The main Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean highway 3324 miles from Los Angeles, CA to New York City, NY. There were a couple of offshoots – which this was one of them. If a traveler needed to go through Salt Lake City, they would travel this route – HWY 13 to HWY 40.
More info can be found on the web at :
http://www.ppoo.org/
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/pikes.cfm
and at many, many other sites….