The first musher there earns a gormet dinner and a cash prize. Among the bigger checkpoints are Unalakleet, pop. 714, and Nulato, pop. Several stops such as Ophir and Cripple, are ghost towns. Most of the stops have a small store, phone service and limited lodging.
Some stops offer nothing more than the checker's cabin.
There are a number of sites that post maps. The Iditarod site, Dogsled , The Iditarod Classroom, and the Scholastic sites all have wonderful maps.