Any particular tribe or group? There's a big difference between (for example) the Pueblo natives and the Great Plains nomads.
This sounds pretty interesting, to be perfectly honest. Towards the end of the 19th century there was a lot of public interest in the "Injuns", but the vast majority of the reporting was along the "get rid of 'em" lines. I grew up moving from reservation to reservation (My mom was a nurse with Indian Health Care) and I've lived in the Ute, Navajo, Blackfoot, several Apache and Sioux, and a couple of Pueblo cultures... and then later around the Puget Sound area (Guemes and the likes) later. I'd be really interested in doing something like this, but I'd need a little time to do some research on whatever tribe your interested in.
Physical terrain would be a major consideration also. Go, go, hardship!