What's the fastest way to collect all explorer notes on The Island?

Grab a fast flyer, start near the south-central beaches, and follow the 90-stop order on this page. It's a near-optimal loop (nearest-neighbor + 2-opt) that sweeps the southern islets, loops the southeast and Dead Island, runs the frozen north, and finishes in the southwest — minimizing backtracking.

Do I have to collect explorer notes in a specific order?

No — order doesn't matter for unlocking them or the XP buff. This route just minimizes travel time so you spend less time flying and more time collecting. Skip any you already have and continue down the list.

What's the best flyer for collecting explorer notes?

Any fast, high-stamina flyer works. A Snow Owl, Griffin, or a leveled Argentavis are reliable picks; a tamed Pteranodon is fine early. For the frozen-north leg (Whitesky Peak, Winter's Mouth) bring fur armor or a mount that keeps you warm.

It's a near-optimal straight-line order between the 90 coordinates, so it assumes a flyer. On the ground, terrain (mountains, water) can change the best path slightly, but the order still keeps you moving in one direction instead of crisscrossing the map.

ARK Island Explorer Notes Route — Collect All 90 in Order (2026)

How this works: the 90 notes are just points on the map, so we ran a route optimizer (nearest-neighbor + 2-opt) over their coordinates to find a near-shortest loop. Start at #1 and follow the order — each stop is the next-closest note, grouped into 6 legs by region. Order doesn't affect the XP buff, so skip any you already have. It assumes a flyer (straight-line travel); on the ground, adjust for terrain.

Want the notes grouped by author instead (Helena / Rockwell / Mei-Yin) for reference?

Full reference list →

Leg 1 · stops 1–9

South-central: beaches to the Central Cave

Begin near the southern beaches where most survivors spawn, then drift inland toward the Grand Hills and the Central Cave.

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
1	Rockwell #12	Southern Islets	82.6, 51.3
2	Helena #12	Lower South Cave	84.1, 52.1
3	Helena #2	Underwater Cave	91.8, 71.3
4	Rockwell #11	Southern Islets	80.0, 67.1
5	Helena #11	Upper South Cave	69.8, 61.4
6	Rockwell #14	The Red Peak	58.6, 49.0
7	Mei-Yin #30	The Grand Hills	39.9, 40.6
8	Mei-Yin #19	The Grand Hills	39.0, 44.1
9	Rockwell #17	Central Cave	40.8, 47.7

Leg 2 · stops 10–17

The central lakes & northern shores

Up through the Frozen Tooth and the edge of Winter's Mouth, around the Hidden Lake, and out to Far's Peak and the Northern Shores.

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
10	Helena #15	The Frozen Tooth	34.1, 56.1
11	Helena #22	Winter's Mouth	24.9, 60.9
12	Helena #14	Winter's Mouth	26.3, 62.9
13	Helena #23	Smuggler's Pass	23.9, 65.3
14	Rockwell #5	The Hidden Lake	21.3, 69.2
15	Rockwell #1	The Hidden Lake	25.3, 73.1
16	Mei-Yin #21	Far's Peak	32.4, 73.3
17	Mei-Yin #20	Northern Shores	39.1, 71.1

Leg 3 · stops 18–29

The Southern Islets cluster & Lava Cave

Back down through the Redwoods and Writhing Swamps into the dense Southern Islets pack — the biggest single cluster on the map — then out to the Lava Cave.

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
18	Helena #10	The Redwood Forests	52.4, 59.0
19	Rockwell #13	The Writhing Swamps	64.1, 61.6
20	Rockwell #25	Southern Islets	75.0, 65.6
21	Rockwell #24	Southern Islets	76.5, 68.1
22	Helena #18	Southern Islets	76.6, 70.7
23	Rockwell #10	Southern Islets	75.7, 71.5
24	Rockwell #23	Southern Islets	75.5, 74.0
25	Rockwell #26	Southern Islets	75.8, 75.5
26	Helena #6	Southern Islets	77.2, 76.4
27	Helena #17	Southern Islets	76.8, 77.3
28	Rockwell #18	Lava Cave	68.7, 86.1
29	Helena #8	Southern Islets	61.2, 81.5

Leg 4 · stops 30–42

Caverns, the Eastern Forest & the Dead Island

Through the Caverns of Lost Hope and Eastern Forest, then a southeast loop across the Dead Island and the Tek Cave approach (a couple of deep-ocean notes here are the only real detours).

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
30	Helena #9	Caverns of Lost Hope	49.4, 79.2
31	Mei-Yin #9	Caverns of Lost Hope	47.2, 81.6
32	Rockwell #6	Caverns of Lost Hope	46.4, 83.7
33	Rockwell #7	The Eastern Forest	44.1, 81.4
34	Mei-Yin #23	The Eastern Forest	40.2, 78.8
35	Mei-Yin #22	Far's Peak	30.1, 82.4
36	Rockwell #27	The Dead Island	20.1, 85.9
37	Helena #1	Underwater Cave	8.5, 90.9
38	Rockwell #4	The Dead Island	14.1, 85.9
39	Helena #29	The Dead Island	16.3, 81.2
40	Helena #30	The Dead Island	19.2, 77.1
41	Rockwell #29	Tek Cave Area	14.2, 75.6
42	Mei-Yin #31	Tek Cave Area	13.3, 73.9

Leg 5 · stops 43–68

The frozen north — Winter's Mouth & Whitesky Peak

The biggest stretch: nearly every Mei-Yin note lives up here. Bring fur armor or a warm mount and grind out the cluster across Winter's Mouth, the Northern Plains, and Whitesky Peak.

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
43	Mei-Yin #12	Winter's Mouth	12.8, 54.5
44	Helena #21	Winter's Mouth	12.6, 49.3
45	Mei-Yin #14	Winter's Mouth	15.3, 53.2
46	Mei-Yin #3	Winter's Mouth	15.8, 52.5
47	Helena #20	Winter's Mouth	19.2, 49.9
48	Helena #26	Winter's Mouth	27.7, 56.4
49	Mei-Yin #18	Winter's Mouth	26.6, 51.7
50	Mei-Yin #10	Winter's Mouth	27.3, 43.9
51	Helena #19	Winter's Mouth	25.1, 44.6
52	Mei-Yin #13	Northern Plains	21.3, 40.9
53	Mei-Yin #11	Northern Plains	20.5, 40.8
54	Mei-Yin #29	Whitesky Peak	18.2, 38.0
55	Mei-Yin #6	Whitesky Peak	16.8, 29.0
56	Mei-Yin #4	Whitesky Peak	19.8, 30.1
57	Mei-Yin #7	Whitesky Peak	21.3, 30.0
58	Helena #28	Whitesky Peak	22.3, 23.4
59	Mei-Yin #2	Whitesky Peak	15.2, 20.7
60	Mei-Yin #27	Whitesky Peak	22.1, 9.7
61	Mei-Yin #1	Whitesky Peak	25.0, 18.9
62	Mei-Yin #5	Whitesky Peak	26.6, 16.4
63	Mei-Yin #8	Whitesky Peak	32.5, 16.1
64	Helena #24	Whitesky Peak	28.9, 23.2
65	Helena #27	Whitesky Peak	26.0, 25.6
66	Mei-Yin #28	Whitesky Peak	23.5, 37.8
67	Mei-Yin #15	Northern Plains	26.8, 39.7
68	Mei-Yin #17	Whitesky Peak	28.0, 33.9

Leg 6 · stops 69–90

The western plains, swamps & the southwest finish

Drop south through the Western Plains and Approach, sweep the western coast and swamps, then finish across the Footpaw and Cragg's Island — landing right back near where you started.

Order	Note	Region	Coords (Lat, Lon)
69	Mei-Yin #16	The Western Plains	34.4, 29.4
70	Helena #25	The Western Plains	36.2, 22.4
71	Helena #16	The Western Plains	40.7, 26.1
72	Mei-Yin #25	The Western Plains	42.6, 23.0
73	Mei-Yin #24	The Western Approach	50.5, 23.3
74	Helena #13	The Western Approach	55.2, 27.7
75	Mei-Yin #26	The Western Approach	52.4, 17.3
76	Rockwell #3	The Western Coast	54.8, 13.8
77	Rockwell #9	Caverns of Lost Faith	61.7, 16.1
78	Rockwell #16	The Writhing Swamps	69.5, 24.8
79	Rockwell #15	The Writhing Swamps	70.2, 32.0
80	Rockwell #8	The Redwood Forests	64.5, 34.1
81	Rockwell #22	Southern Islets	76.0, 46.7
82	Rockwell #28	Southern Islets	78.3, 47.3
83	Helena #5	Southern Islets	81.5, 44.7
84	Helena #3	Underwater Cave	91.0, 36.2
85	Rockwell #21	The Footpaw	77.1, 31.6
86	Helena #7	The Footpaw	78.8, 27.7
87	Rockwell #2	Cragg's Island	83.2, 24.8
88	Rockwell #19	Cragg's Island	83.8, 27.7
89	Rockwell #20	Cragg's Island	86.4, 26.7
90	Helena #4	Underwater Cave	90.6, 13.1

Before you launch

Note-Running Tips

Fast flyer first. A Snow Owl, Griffin, or leveled Argentavis makes the loop quick; a Pteranodon is fine early. Stamina and speed matter more than damage.
Dress for the north. Leg 5 (Whitesky Peak / Winter's Mouth) is freezing — bring fur armor or an Otter/Dimetrodon for insulation, or you'll burn through the run taking cold damage.
Drop a bed at the start. If you wipe to a wild creature mid-loop, you respawn close and keep going.
Underwater notes need a breath. A few stops (the "Underwater Cave" entries in the deep ocean) sit below the surface — bring SCUBA or Lazarus Chowder and an aquatic dismount option.
Order is just for speed. Skip any you already have — the XP buff and unlocks don't care what order you read them in.

⚙️

Want the loop to take 10 minutes, not an hour?

Crank flyer speed and XP on your own server with our free Game.ini and GameUserSettings generators — note-running becomes a quick lap, and the XP buff stacks even faster.

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Keep exploring The Island

More Island Guides

All 90 Notes (by author) → Island Cave Locations → Ragnarok Caves → All ARK Cave Locations →