Is It Illegal To Cross A Purple Fence In Michigan?

Do not enter any property in Michigan that is marked with purple.

When you see a purple fence while you're hiking, it's probably not a huge Prince fan.  The purple is used to keep hunters and hikers off of private property.  If you see purple paint marking a fence or trees while you're out in the woods, you need to turn around in Michigan.  Purple paint is a sign of no trespassing in many states.  The "Purple Paint" bill in Michigan passed the Senate 35-2 on May 24th, 2006, and then became law after passing in the House of Representatives on June 8th, 2006 according to MichiganVotes.org,

To establish that a property owner can “post” his property to indicate that trespassing is prohibited by placing purple paint marks on trees or posts not more than 100 feet apart and readily visible to a person approaching the property. Each paint mark must be a vertical line at least 8 inches long, between 3 feet and 5 feet above the ground.

The reason behind this is simple.  Property owners are constantly having to replace vandalized or stolen no-trespassing signs.  That can be a very expensive problem if you own a lot of property.  The proposed solution would allow property owners to spray paint fence polls, fences, or parts of trees to indicate their property line.  If you see purple paint markers while out in the woods, leave.  Those purple markings are more than likely property/no trespassing markers and you could serve up to 90 days in jail if charged.

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