WEST GREENWICH –– Part treasure hunt, part chess game on the hoof, part cross-country race, orienteering is coming to Rhode Island Saturday when the New England Orienteering Club has a meet in the Big River Management Area in West Greenwich. It’s a family event, says meet director Karl Stephens of Barrington.

Registration and staggered starts run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Orienteers use a map and compass to find their way across unfamiliar terrain to a series of checkpoints that are marked. The object is to use the map and compass to locate all of the markers and to return to the finish line. At each control point, there is a unique punch to mark a card as proof that you found the spot.

In a race against the clock, the quickest athletes can be beaten by much slower strategists who use imagination and navigation. Participants range from seriously competitive runners to families out for a walk in the woods, Stephens says.

Orienteering courses are color coded. Beginners and many families often select the easiest course –– white –– which ranges from one to three kilometers long. The most difficult course in the Big River meet will be the red one, typically between six and eight kilometers long. (In a championship, a blue course demands the most expertise; it’s between eight and 12 kilometers long.) For safety’s sake, entrants are allowed three hours to finish a course.

The only equipment you need are a pair of comfortable running or hiking shoes, a wristwatch, long trousers to fend off Rhode Island’s briar tangles, and a good compass. The club will provide the map and even a compass if you need one.

Stephens, a retired physician, did much of the cartography to create the map of the Big River Wildlife Management Area. Its detail is so fine that it includes rocks in the woods. An experienced orienteer, like Stephens, can glance at the map and imagine how an area really looks.

— Tom Meade 

The entry fees for the meet in West Greenwich are $6 for members on all courses and $10 for nonmembers on all courses except the easiest ones, white and yellow, where the entry fee is $6. For families, the entry fee is $18 for members and $30 for nonmembers.

The meet will be off Route 95 at exit 6 (not 6A). From exit 6 follow Route 3 about three miles to Congdon Mill Road on the left (at the towers, and across from the Big River Inn). Take Congdon Mill Road about .8 miles to the meet site on the left, just after crossing a small bridge. Information about other orienteering events is available online at newenglandorienteering.org.