Looking for Sierra club chapters or meetup groups or other hiking groups would be a great place to start.

Meetup is less formal than a lot of groups, but there's such a variety of inexperienced and experienced hikers - it's sort of like internet dating only you're hiking, not dating. You'll probably quickly find people you wouldn't mind spending overnight trips with, regardless of what group you hang out with, and you'll be able to ask all kinds of questions.

The forum's full of some good questions and answers as well, so welcome and enjoy!