If the crowds at the St. Patrick’s Day parades are too much for you, spend some time with another kind of Irish and explore the same area visited by outlaw Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch: Irish Canyon in northwestern Colorado.

This canyon boasts rare plant communities on the canyon floor and walls, rock art and other archaeological sites as well as Irish Lakes, one of the few natural playa, or dry lakes in Colorado.

You can get to Irish Canyon from Maybell on U.S. Highway 40. Turn northwest on Colorado Highway 318 to Moffat County Road 10N, which runs through Irish Canyon. Or purchase the U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Quadrangle Map of Irish Canyon from www.amazon.com for $9.95. The waterproof and tear-resistant map offers detailed cartography of the area.