Spanish Fork Canyon is a mountain setting associated with Ann Randak’s work at a ranch and with Dan Lafferty’s visits to her. In the book, it becomes a waypoint in the final sequence leading to July 24: Dan spent a day and night with Ann there before leaving to visit his first wife and children.

Setting and Associations

The ranch where Ann cared for horses belonging to Robert Redford is described as lying up Spanish Fork Canyon, in the mountains east of Dream Mine. Dan and Ann had met after he borrowed a horse from her for a local parade. Their connection to the canyon is therefore both practical and personal: it was where Ann worked and where Dan later visited her as his second wife.

Place in the Narrative

On July 23, Dan spent a day and a night with Ann in Spanish Fork Canyon, then said goodbye and went to visit Matilda Lafferty and their children. He would meet Ron Lafferty later that day. The canyon marks a parting in the book’s chronology, linking Dan’s domestic life with the sequence of movements immediately preceding the following day’s events.