On the trail of the rare North Carolina sonker. Really. See for yourself.

Screaming Yellow Zonkers: about 174,000  hits on Google.

Sonkers? Slightly more. And that includes the Sonker Festival, held the first Saturday in October in the Mount Airy area.

Mount Airy? Of course. A sonker is a North Carolina take on a deep-dish cobbler. Popular in the old days, it has experienced a renaissance of sorts, being highlighted in the New York Times in 2013 along with grunts, slumps and other regional takes on fruit-filled desserts.

Surry County, deep in the Sonker Belt,  is capitalizing on this with a new "trail" ‑- a guide to places in those parts where you can order them, buy them, or purchase cookbooks on how to make sonkers.

Among the stops?

The Rockford General Store

Roxxi & Lulu's Bakery, in Elkin

Heaven's Scent, Elkin

Living Cross Coffeehouse, Mount Pilot

Putters Patio & Grill, Dobson

Trio Restaurant, Mount Airy

Miss Angel's Heavenly Pies, Mount Airy

You can order the free-of-charge  "Sonker Trail" guide/map by calling 800-948-0949, or request it online at www.SonkerTrail.org.

The Surry County Tourism  photo at the top of this post? A close-up of the rare and elusive sonker.