I have visited this area many times in last five years in my quest for interesting and unusual ant species, and I have never seen it so dry. There were no signs of spring wildflowers or grasses, just the dry, flattened grasses of the previous year. There weren't even any flowers or buds on the shrubs. In fact, the leaves on some shrubs were dry and crisp. There was very little ant activity along the trails and very few ants showed up in my traps. I looked under hundred of rocks and found a few scorpions and solpugids, but zero ants. A serious myrmecologist would return to this region during the summer monsoonal rains!

Here are a few images of the parched slopes of the Superstitions. In previous years there were carpets of desert annuals in full bloom plus numerous flowering shrubs:

Weaver's Needle is a 1,000-foot-high (300 m) column of rock that forms a distinctive peak visible for many miles around. Located in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona, Weaver's Needle was created when a thick layer of tuff (fused volcanic ash) was heavily eroded, creating the spire as an erosional remnant with a summit elevation of 4,555 feet (1,388 m). It is set in a desert landscape of cactus and mesquite bush, with large Saguaro cacti particularly prominent. The peak was named after mountain man Pauline Weaver (1797-1867). Weaver's Needle has played a significant role in the stories of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. The Needle's shadow reportedly indicates the location of a rich vein of gold, and many treasure hunters have searched for it. The hunt for gold around Weavers Needle has been pursued by hundreds (possibly thousands) of people.

Pauline Weaver was an American mountain man, trapper, military scout, prospector, and explorer who was active in the early Southwestern United States. He was born in 1797 in White County, Tennessee and died in 1867 at Camp Verde, Arizona. A number of geographic features in Arizona are named after him.