I have a great Giottos MT-8180 carbon fiber tripod which is tall, very sturdy and can articulate to place my camera in just about any position. It is a bit heavy, however, for cross country hiking - especially over rough terrain.
I modified a SLIK 330 Pro tripod to use as my hiking camera support. It is lightweight and did not cost a ton of money.
I switched the standard long center column to the optional shorter column thus saving weight. I never use a center column despite the fact that this tripod is fairly short. Instead, I will either stoop or use a Chinese manufactured 90 degree finder. The fact that this tripod is short accounts for its really light weight. With no head and with the optional shorter center column, the tripod leg set weighs only .91 Kg.
I replaced the SLIK head (which I didn't like) with the MH-1300 head from my Giottos tripod. This head weighs .77 Kg and has an Arca compatible quick release system. The total weight of my rig, the way I have it set up is only 1.68 Kg.
However, there are other Arca compatible heads which are half the weight of the MH-1300. I just don't want to spend the money for a different head to save about .25 Kilo.
I stress that for a lightweight tripod setup, the Arca compatible quick release system is the way to go. It enables you to use a Really Right Stuff L-bracket that keeps the camera directly over the tripod head in both landscape and portrait positions. With a standard ball head, the camera is cantilevered over to the side when in the portrait position. This is very unstable.
http://reallyrightstuff.com/QR/05.html
