{"id":21687,"date":"2025-06-25T23:44:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/shingled-hedgehogs-and-lemonade-berries-hikers-find-edible-oddities-at-hawkins-preserve-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:08:25","slug":"shingled-hedgehogs-and-lemonade-berries-hikers-find-edible-oddities-at-hawkins-preserve-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/shingled-hedgehogs-and-lemonade-berries-hikers-find-edible-oddities-at-hawkins-preserve-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Shingled hedgehogs and lemonade berries? Hikers find edible oddities at Hawkins Preserve in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hawkins
Hawkins Preserve on a sunny day. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Hawkins Preserve, just 3 miles southwest of downtown Cortez, attracts a slew of outdoor enthusiasts: hikers, trail runners, bikers, climbers.<\/p>\n

This time of year especially it\u2019s teeming with life.<\/p>\n

In fact, there are more than 200 documented plant species in the preserve, according to the Cortez Cultural Center\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A lot of those plants are identified with markers, easily spotted from the trail, making it simple for visitors to identify what they see.<\/p>\n

Shelby and Roberta Smith, two avid hikers at Hawkins Preserve, recently sent The Journal <\/em>a few photos of the plants they saw there.<\/p>\n

On a walk over Mother\u2019s Day weekend, Shelby said the pair \u2013 plus their daughter, Annette \u2013 were on a walk at Hawkins when Annette noticed something \u201cstrange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shingled
Shingled hedgehog, an edible mushroom, seen at Hawkins Preserve. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhat are these?\u201d she asked of the round brown plants that look like some kind of growth, like warts on a witch\u2019s chin.<\/p>\n

Shelby said they weren\u2019t sure what it was, but were able to identify them as shingled hedgehog (Sarcodon imbricatus), a type of edible mushroom, thanks to their smartphone\u2019s plant identifier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can grow to 12 inches in diameter with grayish brittle teeth underneath,\u201d said Shelby. \u201cIt takes on the color of the soil and hides within its surroundings very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

When cooked, some like the taste, he said, while \u201cothers say they\u2019re terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo varieties?\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n

\"Fragrant
Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) are sticky, edible berries that taste like lemonade. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The sweet, sticky berries known as fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) are arguably more approachable than the camouflaged shingled hedgehog mushrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you pluck a couple of these and plop them into your mouth, you will discover why many children call them lemonade berries,\u201d said Shelby.<\/p>\n

He encourages folks to pick \u201ca half-cup of them, wash them, then crush them in a cup of water with a lot of sugar.\u201d Strain the seeds out and you\u2019ll have made \u201ca remarkable lemon-flavored drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut go easy,\u201d said Shelby.<\/p>\n

Some people are allergic, and it\u2019s slightly astringent, which means it can make the mouth feel dry and numb.<\/p>\n

\"A
A big, beautiful pi\u00f1on pine at Hawkins Preserve in Cortez. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

To the untrained eye, small mushrooms, berries and flowers might be hard to spot. But just about anyone can recognize \u2013 and appreciate \u2013 a grown pi\u00f1on pine when they see one.<\/p>\n

This \u201c small, drought-hardy, long-lived tree\u201d is \u201cwidespread in the southwestern United States,\u201d according to the United States Department of Agriculture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though long-lived, the trees grow slowly.<\/p>\n

Saplings will grow just 4 to 6 inches in a year, \u201cand mature trees grow even more slowly, averaging 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) per year,\u201d according to the USDA.<\/p>\n

Shelby called the pi\u00f1on pine he saw at the Preserve \u201chealthy,\u201d and that it \u201cis about to produce an outburst of pine cones and pi\u00f1on nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few flowering cacti in the Preserve will have an outburst of their own, with the help of a little more rain, said Shelby.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow
Yellow prickly pear at Hawkins Preserve in Cortez. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Likely
Likely a Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus fendleri), commonly found in Southwest Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He went on to say how most cacti are \u201cone consistent color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pricklies, however, produce more than a dozen distinct colors,\u201d he said, ranging from yellow to pink to orange to red.<\/p>\n

Visitors at Hawkins Preserve in Cortez are reminded to leave no trace. Dogs are welcome if they are leashed and polite, and owners must pick up after them. To climb, contact the Cortez Cultural Center and secure a permit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some, however, find the plants unpalatable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77419,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21687\/revisions\/77419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21687"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}