The Route: An eight- to 10-day burro-supported trek through the parched mesas of North America's largest canyon system — the mile-deep home turf of the Tarahumara Indians — with hair-raising jeep journeys in and out of the canyon.

When to go: January through March

Difficulty: Difficult

Travel advisory: Get your legs and lungs in fighting shape. The trails are much steeper and rougher than those in the Grand Canyon, and you'll walk from the 7,400-foot-high rim to the 1,600-foot bottom and back up again.

High/low points:

• Eating apples straight from the trees as you begin the hike down the canyon, and sweet local oranges once you get deep.
• Hand-carrying a live chicken — your prospective dinner — after rain's dissolved the cardboard box used to pack it aboard your burro.