This one comes from the "weird idea" category, but sometimes it works. In any home improvement place, you can find 3/8" studs that have a standard 3/8 x 16 thread on one side, and a lag bolt on the other end, in various lengths. When nothing else works, you dig this little guy out of your bag, along with your 6" vice grips, and screw it into the nearest available heavy wooden thing. Thread your tripod head onto that, and presto! You can get creative, and use a lock nut and fender washer under the head, to make it solid without bottoming out on the threads. The lag bolt side is available in lengths up to around 6", so that allows for a horizontal screw position with room to move the camera to either horiz. or vertical.
I used to use this set-up on hikes in the Uinta Mtns. in Utah, with good success.
You just think different, from the tripod perspective to the "available anchor" perspective. This also works well if you want to return to the exact shooting position later on, because these studs are cheap enough to just leave in place.
Look around, next time you're "out there", and notice that there are often numerous heavy fence posts, tree stumps, and convenient shapes in the trees where this would work very well.