orienteering
noun
ori·en·teer·ing ˌȯr-ē-ən-ˈtir-iŋ 
-ˌen-
: a competitive or noncompetitive recreational activity in which participants use a map and compass to navigate between checkpoints along an unfamiliar course (as in the woods)
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web There have been plenty of top athletes who have gotten into orienteering — for example, former Olympic skier Bill Spencer was in attendance Wednesday. 
Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 7 July 2022 Growing up in Hong Kong, Ms. Chow read martial-arts novels and loved orienteering. Wenxin Fan And Elaine Yu, WSJ, 25 May 2022 Breckenridge is home to some of the longest and most rollicking backcountry rides in North America, but figuring them out on your own can be a lesson in orienteering. Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 25 Mar. 2019 Though a wonderful place for orienteering, Wales has not historically been a bastion of hipness. Richard Godwin, Travel + Leisure, 26 Feb. 2022 The Gargoyle King is actually really good at orienteering. Maggie Olmsted, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2022 Experience in orienteering helps, because any approach requires an overland hike. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Sep. 2021 Allan Spangler out navigated nearly two dozen others to win a sprint orienteering meet Wednesday on a course set up on the UAA campus. Anchorage Daily News, 21 Aug. 2021 The research team confirmed the use of this tactic in both an amoeba and a mammalian cell line, suggesting a commonality among cells engaged in long-distance orienteering. Emily Willingham, Scientific American, 28 Aug. 2020 See More
Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 7 July 2022 Growing up in Hong Kong, Ms. Chow read martial-arts novels and loved orienteering. Wenxin Fan And Elaine Yu, WSJ, 25 May 2022 Breckenridge is home to some of the longest and most rollicking backcountry rides in North America, but figuring them out on your own can be a lesson in orienteering. Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 25 Mar. 2019 Though a wonderful place for orienteering, Wales has not historically been a bastion of hipness. Richard Godwin, Travel + Leisure, 26 Feb. 2022 The Gargoyle King is actually really good at orienteering. Maggie Olmsted, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2022 Experience in orienteering helps, because any approach requires an overland hike. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Sep. 2021 Allan Spangler out navigated nearly two dozen others to win a sprint orienteering meet Wednesday on a course set up on the UAA campus. Anchorage Daily News, 21 Aug. 2021 The research team confirmed the use of this tactic in both an amoeba and a mammalian cell line, suggesting a commonality among cells engaged in long-distance orienteering. Emily Willingham, Scientific American, 28 Aug. 2020 See More Word History
Etymology
modification of Swedish orientering, from orientera to orient
First Known Use
1948, in the meaning defined above