Open to interpretation

Peter Pan’s Labyrinth invites people to ‘find their happy thoughts’

The Arroyo Chamisa slithers across the entire southern half of Santa Fe, leaving steep dirt banks and tons of soft sand for people to hike, run or walk their dogs.

As it passes under St. Francis Drive it drops over concrete structures meant to prevent erosion. And it is there — under one bridge that supports hikers and bikers on the Rail Trail, another bridge that heaves against the weight of the Rail Runner commuter train and a third, an old trestle bridge that once carried the Santa Fe Southern Railway — an artist and author has spent months creating a labyrinth.

John Thompson, 36, who lives nearby and makes ends meet by waiting tables, spends most of his time working on the labyrinth and writing a novel.

Thompson said the labyrinth has given him time to think, much like the process of writing a novel: editing, revising and drafting. Sometimes he would struggle over the placement of a rock, only later to change it completely.

The artistic path under the bridges is titled Peter Pan’s Labyrinth. He started the project near the end of November 2021 and it’s nearly complete, for now.

Thompson plans to finish his first book in a few months and to do a reading at the labyrinth.

He said there is an entrance to the labyrinth, but it’s also open to interpretation: “I hope people just come down here and find their happy thoughts.”

People often ask him what will happen to the labyrinth when it rains? After thunderstorms, the arroyo is known to fill with torrents of water.

“Well, it was always going to rain,” Thompson said. “We’ll see.”

EDDIE MOORE/JOURNAL Artist and author John Thompson moves rocks into place as he builds a labyrinth in the Arroyo Chamisa in Santa Fe on May 25. He said he found the process of building a labyrinth much like that of writing a book: editing, revising and drafting.

Thompson hangs a sign for the labyrinth he built in the Arroyo Chamisa in Santa Fe.

A feather on a cholla cactus is among the items used to create the labyrinth in the Arroyo Chamisa.

Tree limbs, different colored stones, bicycle rims and other objects were used to create the labyrinth.

Thompson uses different colored stones in his labyrinth.