CA Bay Area packrafter seeking CA Central/Northern paddling buddies

I’m mostly interested in the actual packing part of packrafting. IOW, I love making a loop hiking one way and paddling the other or vice versa. I’m eager to do more of that but I’m also open to ferried runs too, getting more paddling experience is the priority ATM. I’m hoping to find paddling buddies in the Northern/Central CA area and trying to get fairly frequent runs in that area including the Sierras. I’m also open to longer or more distant trips on an infrequent basis.

It’s not my priority but I do thoroughly enjoy white/swift water. In that sense, I’d say I’m just north of a beginner. I’ve done 6 class I-II+ runs in my packraft, including a 2-day swiftwater safety course at last years roundup. I have a smattering of other whitewater experience further in my past and a fair amount of casual kayak paddling. I feel comfortable in class I-II+ rapids but still make unforced errors and I’m eager to work my way into class III rapids. I’m not particularly motivated by adrenaline nor am I a thrill seeker so I’m not seeking to run waters more technical than class III. IOW, If I developed the the skill level and had the opportunity to do class IV at some point in the future I’m sure I’d do it, but I wouldn’t seek it out and I probably wouldn’t ever want to do class V.

I also have a couple of tenkara rods and kits. I have pretty much no experience there, but I’d love to learn tenkara/small-water fishing and am also open to learning fly-fishing in general.

I was just getting very into packrafting when my paddling partner fell ill and became disabled. I still have their kit and I’m reluctant to give it up because I’d very much like continue and it feels like having the 2nd kit makes that more likely. I have 2 full kits (rafts, paddles, PFDs, helmets, throw/rescue lines/bags, safety kinves, safety whistles, etc.) minus the drysuits which have to be more fitted/sized and can be rented. So I can even loan or rent the gear if you don’t have your own.

LMK if you’re interested. I’d also love to hear any tips or suggestions as to how to connect with other packrafters or otherwise get things going.

For anyone else trying to make packrafting connections, I found that these forums didn’t really yield any response. What did end up working was sending a “seeking packrafters” post on the mailing list of my local whitewater paddling club, which I found through American Whitewater Affiliate Clubs page. That yielded lots of useful responses pretty much immediately, including a pointer to the California Packrafting Facebook Group.

zenwryly,
I’m planning to do an American road trip this summer. I am a beginner packrafter (just one 5 night trip down the Gulkana river) and am looking for some easy floats. Could you tell me the names of those Class 1 & ll rivers you rafted? Game for floats this summer (2020)