Bent a whole set of those Walmart aluminum ones in the Sangre de Cristo range, same deal, ground was rock hard and they folded like butter. What saved me was carrying a couple of 8 inch gutter spikes from the hardware store for the bad spots, they punch through gravel and roots way better than anything from a tent bag. Now I run a mix, light stakes for the good ground and a few beefy ones for the junk.

Wait, only $4.10 across six receipts? That is wild. Two years of cutting and sorting every Sunday for basically nothing is rough to hear. The cashier did you a huge favor honestly. I still grab the meat ones too but my card handles the rest now.

Had a buddy tell me his old Silverado did the same thing, turned out to be the relay getting heat soaked under the hood. He kept swapping sensors and chasing wires for weeks before someone on a forum told him to just feel if the relay was hot. Wild how a 14 dollar part can waste so much of your time.