Please recommend a light tripod for hiking?

I plan to take my digital SLR camera to hikes and would like to get advice on what's an ultralight tripod to buy. Ideally not something to break the bank (definitely below $500 for tripod, head, etc). I am not planning to take lenses so heavy that they need to be screwed onto the tripod directly - just something to prevent blur.

I am pretty creative when it comes to using rocks, trees, etc natural features instead of a tripod, but in some locations you just need the real thing. I have never used a monopod, I know what they are, and I expect them to still be rather unstable for my needs.

Though I have a light-weight tripod(Ultrapod, I believe), and it is useful (the attached Velcro strap is good for stabilizing it on a branch or post), I more often use an inexpensive collapsible hiking pole (~$10 at Ocean State Job Lot) to which I've added a 1/4x20 screw (standard tripod socket size) in the handle. A nylon license-plate nut covers it when not in use. The same works on ski-poles; I've some great pictures of x-country skiing in Yellowstone NP taken with that (it does mean shuffling along with one pole when I want ro be in the picture, though).
Rowi also made a nice modular 'pod: it had clamps, wood-screws and other means to stabilize a ball-joint head. Probably pricey today, though, and it was small but heavy.

Pros take a tripod everywhere. Us normal people are too lazy do it, thats their shots are so sharp and clear. Depending on how much you want to spend, the carbon fiber tripods are the best tripods that will give you a very sturdy platform and is realtivey light wieght but are expensive. I wont cheap out on a tripod for low light because they are prone to vibrations from the mirror slap and the shutter opening and closing.

At the main PX (post exchange) on Fort Benning I bought a tripod that was only $18. Each leg telescoped in about six segments so it could be as short as eight inches or as tall as several feet. I couldn't have wished for a better deal.