I have an adjustable aluminum one like you describe I keep in my car all the time. Years ago, someone left it in a shopping cart in our parking lot at work. I brought it into the store and we kept it for months, behind my counter, waiting for the person who lost it to come in looking for it. When that did not happen, I took it home.

There were times late at night when I came home from very long days standing that I had trouble getting up the outside stairs.
So I used the cane for that. When I think back on being in my 40's and keeping it for that back then, I don't feel too badly now!

When I fell last and had to have the 3 months of PT, I used a quad cane. I needed that to get up out of chairs, etc for about 6 weeks. As soon as the treatments started however, the quad cane was not necessary any more. I found walking with IT very difficult tho.

The hiking poles range in price from what I think is the lowest-- at Dunham's sporting goods for $15 up to over $100 each for the graphite high end ones hikers use for doing the Appalachian Trail and other mammoth events. Mine is aluminum, and while it got some poor reviews at Amazon.com, mine has lasted over 3 yrs, of heavy use! And is still going!

This is the one I have (it is a little bit more $$ at Amazon). You can see that serious hikers found it "flimsy", but I am far from being a serious hiker! LOL
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-802-25...3819138&sr=8-1

My biggest problem on vacation was forgetting where I left it!
Lots of trips to that outhouse you know!