I went on a hunt yesterday and came away totally stoked.
Prior to last fall, the only pawpaw trees i'd managed to find were in far-flung or hard to access areas. Then on a hike in our county park (5 min drive from here) last fall, I found a few pawpaws.
Yesterday I went back to the park to check on flowers. The trees I had previously found did have buds that were not quite or barely opening.
But the bigger news is I found a shuge "patch" of trees (or is it ONE tree?!? LOL) on a southwest-facing slope of a hill. Most of the trees were small and had no flower buds, but as I kept walking down the slope, I found some much more mature trees that were pretty well loaded with flowers. These were at the edge of the woods, where there is a clearing. These get lots more sun so are much happier.
Finally I have a good supply of very accessible wild pawpaws! I will be checking every few days. I may have to come back here and/or PM some experts when it comes to trying to pollinate them.