I bought some Nobendium stakes from Campmor. They're strong, but a little heavier than the aluminum stakes that came with my tent. One tip: if you can't push your stakes in with the palm of your hand and have to pound them in with a rock, use lots of little hits, rather than big ones. If you tap, tap, tap the stake it won't bend, even if you hit a rock. Lots of times it will gradually move the rock or move itself around the rock and eventually go in. Occasionally I run into rocks that can't be gotten around. In that case I give up and move the stake. I change the angle, or move it a couple of inches, or both. Usually that will be enough. If that fails I'll move the tent a few inches to give the stake a new area to penetrate. This has always worked; I've never been defeated yet.