FROM ANY POINT along the Trinity Turtle Healing Labyrinth Park, the sounds of cars, pickups, and semitrailers zipping along US 54/70 are almost imperceptible. Maybe it’s the yin and yang of the place: a peaceful outdoor walking path pressed up against the bustling highway between Alamogordo and Tularosa.
“I was worried about the noise of the traffic at first,” says Tresa VanWinkle, executive director of the Center Advancing Primary Prevention through Enlightened Decisions (CAPPED), the Alamogordo wellness nonprofit that owns and maintains the labyrinth. “But it just seemed to disappear.”
Inspired by VanWinkle’s childhood love of turtles, the sprawling, three-segment labyrinth was meticulously planned, developed, and constructed over a 20-year span that culminated in a weeklong dedication in December. “We needed a shape that would be recognizable,” VanWinkle explains of the path, which is roughly the size of a football field from head to tail and thought to be the world’s largest permanent outdoor labyrinth.
“The head, which is also the Children’s Labyrinth, represents the future and is a reminder to spend quality time with our families,” VanWinkle says. “The body symbolizes the present and the notion that every decision we make in a day has a cumulative effect. The tail signifies the past and leads to the heart center, where we can release negative and hurtful feelings and experience peace, reflection, and healing.”
A view of the full Trinity Turtle Healing Labyrinth.
Photograph courtesy of Trinity Turtle Healing Labyrinth Park.
Each step along the estimated 5,000–6,000 desert-hued tiles is packed with symbolism and meant for reflection: brown for earth, blue for sky, green for vegetation, yellow for sunshine, red for heart, turquoise for New Mexico, and white and black for the tranquility and strength of Native culture.
The fully accessible five-foot-wide path of the body comfortably accommodates two passing wheelchairs so that those needing assistance also can reap the path’s benefits. “Every turn we make on the labyrinth moves us toward peace and balance,” VanWinkle says.
Solar lights illuminate the labyrinth from twilight to dawn, while 24 stone benches around its perimeter offer a welcome respite. Ultimately, VanWinkle says, the labyrinth is meant to bring a bit of peace to a troubled world, one step at a time. “People tell us every day that it has helped them on their life’s journey,” she says.
STEP BY STEP
The World-Wide Labyrinth Locator lists more than 130 labyrinths throughout New Mexico, including these five standouts.
Six Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths at the west entrance to the Gila Wilderness include one scaled for horses and another composed of irises.
The 40-foot-diameter Carlsbad Labyrinth in the city’s Riverview Park overlooks the Pecos River and is a replica of France’s Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral labyrinth.
Also modeled after Chartres, the 100-foot-diameter, three-quarter-mile Leaping Deer Ranch Labyrinth outside Las Vegas is part of a 186-acre luxury ranch retreat.
Perched on a steep cliff ledge in Taos County, the Arroyo Hondo Labyrinth Petroglyph traces a classical five-circuit labyrinth.
On Santa Fe’s Museum Hill, summer and winter solstice walks at the Milner Plaza Labyrinth highlight the distinctive acoustics created by its surrounding wall and graduated elevations.
