I'm pretty sure there's nowhere you can rent a pad in the area. But the most popular area (Rat Rock) has woodchips laid out on the ground and does not require a pad. You'll be fine on the easier problems at Cat Rock as well.
Most of Ft. Tryon and some of Worthless Boulder is fine without a pad but not as comfortably.
As far as partners, if you go to Rat Rock after work hours there will be people there to show you around.
Brandon's right. Most of the bouldering in the park is doable without a pad.
The most popular bouldering is on Rat, Cat, Chess and Worthless boulders.
On a nice afternoon there'll be other climbers at Rat Rock and the landings are very safe. At Cat, the arete is fine without a pad, though you might find yourself wanting a spotter when you're trying to finish. The main wall problems are fine without pad or spot, but they are the harder problems. Chess rock has a great traverse and some great little moderate vertical problems as well. All very doable with pads. Worthless has that tilted boulder at the base of the overhanging side. Pads don't really help there. A spotter is nice for the short vertical problems. But the traverse (going LtoR Terminator - going RtoL Family Values) is easily worked on without a spotter.
If you want to work on the Roadside Boulder, bring a temperpedic mattress and ssix spotters. :)
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