D.H. Lawrence's poem "Mountain Lion" describes the "vanishing trail" going into the Lobo Canyon in January, when the trail is still clear but the world is covered in snow. The men have captured and killed a mountain lion, whose "bright striped frost-face" is still visible but will never again open its mouth. The speaker in the poem is desolate at the loss of this lion, for whom he feels there was certainly room in the valley alongside man.

The countryside is described in some detail in this poem, from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains up to Picoris. While there are several places in the world called Lobo Canyon, the confluence of place names given by the poet, plus the reference to the two men seen on the trail as Mexicans, give us a clue. The poet is probably not referring to the Lobo Valley in Africa, but rather Lobo Canyon in New Mexico, in the Southwestern USA. Lobo Peak is a popular climbing hill in New Mexico, part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, so it is highly likely that the mountain lion was spotted somewhere in this area. There are certainly mountain lions in this part of the United States.