all state parks, hunting is prohibited, but fishing is allowed. Motorized vehicles are prohibited in the backcountry; exceptions are law enforcement, maintenance staff, and a few dirt roads are designated rights-of-way for in-holders, neighboring property owners and their guests. Spring is the most popular time to visit the park, with its moderate weather, green hillsides dotted with colorful wildflowers, and flowing creeks. Summer is usually too hot and dry for some people to enjoy the area, though the nighttime weather is pleasant and the sky usually clear for star-gazing. Fall, from about mid-October through early November, is also a pleasant time to visit. There are also mild days between rainstorms in winter at Coe. Infrequent snowfall is light and usually persists for just a few days. On rare occasions, creeks can be frozen over in winter. The most common danger faced by visitors is exhaustion from attempting to hike or ride too many steep trails in too little time, or with too little water or food. Additionally, there are many ticks of several different species (though Lyme disease is rare in the area), as well as a few venomous rattlesnakes. Events The park's non-profit support group, the Pine Ridge Association, sponsors two popular annual events, a Mothers' Day Breakfast and the fall TarantulaFest. The latter consists of a traditional outdoor barbecue with live music and a celebration of the hairy arachnids which inhabit the park, the gentle tarantulas commonly seen in the fall there when males are wandering about looking for the burrows of females in order to mate with them. Threats of closure Henry W. Coe State Park was one of 70 California state parks proposed for closure by July 2012 as part of a deficit reduction program. Park advocates from the San Jose and Silicon Valley area organized the Coe Park Preservation Fund and raised donations to keep the park staffed from July 2012 through June 2015. The principal donor was businessman J. Daniel McCranie. The park was previously one of several state parks threatened with closure in 2008. After the statewide special election of May 19, 2009, in which voters turned down a package of propositions dealing with California's budget crisis, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed the temporary closure (for at least 2 years) of 220 parks, including Henry W. Coe State Park. The closures were ultimately avoided by cutting hours and maintenance system-wide. See also List of